






































































































































































































THE SANDMAN: 
HIS BUNNY STORIES 


Sandman Stories 

9 


By William J. Hopkin 

s 

The Sandman: His Farm Stories 

$1.50 

The Sandman: More Farm Stories 

1.50 

The Sandman: His Ship Stories 

1.50 

The Sandman : His Sea Stories 

1.50 

By Harry W. Frees 


The Sandman: His Animal Stories 

$1.50 

The Sandman: His Kittycat Stories 

1.50 

The Sandman: His Bunny Stories 

1.50 

By Jenny Wallis 


The Sandman: His Songs and Rhymes 

$1.50 

By W. S. Phillips 


(El Comancho) 


The Sandman: His Indian Stories 

$1.50 

THE PAGE COMPANY 

53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 





SECURELY TIED TO THE POST 

(See page 84) 











he Sandman: 
His Bunny 
Stories * * 

By- VyP" 

Harry* W. Frees 

ii 

Author of 

“ The Sandman: His Animal Stories,” 

“ The Sandman : His Kittycat Stories,” etc. 


With Thirty-Two Illustrations 
From Life Photographs taken by 
the cAuthor 


0 9 

0 O 1 


Boston 

The Page Company' 

MDCCCCXVIII 



















Copyright, 1918 
By The Page Company 


All rights reserved. 


First Impression, September, 1918 



SEP 19 1918 

£ CUGt)i'85*» 




CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I The Flyaway Kite Story.13 

II The Little Miss Cheer Story.22 

III The Boating Story.30 

IV The Simple Simon Story.39 

V The Springtime Story.47 

VI The Little Dapple Gray Story.55 

VII The Getting Cross Story.70 

VIII The Captain Bunty Story.80 

IX The Mouse Hunting Story.94 

X The Baseball Story.102 

XI The Big Woods Story.109 

XII The Broken Cup Story.119 

XIII The Robin Redbreast Story.127 

XIV The Baby Bun Story.142 

XV The Fire Story.156 

XVI The Easter Visit Story.163 

XVII The Easter Rabbit Story.197 

XVIII The Wigwam Story.209 

XIX The Peddler Story.218 

XX The Quarrel Story.225 

XXI The Cake Story.234 

XXII The Snowman Story.250 

XXIII The Birthday Present Story.266 





















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Securely tied to the post ” ( see page 84) . Frontispiece 


“ Bunty carried it carefully upstairs ”... 

“ Caught sight of his face reflected in the pool ” 

“ They untied the boat and both jumped in ” . 

“ Riding her prancing horse on the table” . 

“ Climbed up to take a peep over the top ”... 

“ Kept a tight hold on the reins ”. 

“ Munching contentedly away on a big jawful of 


HAY 


“ Off came that poor little dolly’s head ” . 

“ With a whole wheelbarrow full of snowballs” 

“ There was Mr. Mouse perched under the table” 

“ Pulled it to the top of the staff ” . . . . 

“ Crawled through patches of high weeds ” . 

“ Climbed the tallest tree they could find ” . 

“She couldn’t help but see it”. 

“ ‘ Oh, look at the pretty eggs ! ’ he exclaimed ” . 

“ Brought out a little basket full of popcorn ” . 

“ That little bunny chap couldn’t climb in at all ” 

“ He sat at the window looking out ” . 

“ Caught up a chair to place outside ” . . . . 

“ Busy at the big kitchen stove boiling eggs ” . 

“Everybody was busy making the candy eggs” . 

“ Uncle Rab was just writing the last letter ” . 

• • 

v» 


16 

25 

33 

42 

52 

61 

66 

74 

92 

99 
107 
112 
US 
125 
130 
140 
145 

151 

161 

172 

184 

190 






Vlll 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

“ He found it securely fastened inside ” . . 205 

“A LITTLE OPENING IN FRONT FOR A DOOR ” .... 214 

“ A POOR OLD BUNNY PEDDLER ”. 220 

“ Caught sight of something written on the wall ” 229 

“ Every now and then she would take a peep into the 

OVEN ”.238 

“ Tied a hot water cloth around his ears ”... 248 

“ There sat a little snowman ”.254 

“ Caught sight of a little opening between two of 

THE ROCKS ”. 26 l 

“ In walked his little bunny brother”.273 






THE SANDMAN: HIS 
BUNNY STORIES 


♦ 


I 


THE FLYAWAY KITE STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 



13 













14 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you ,— 55 But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

When Bunty Cottontail, the little bunny 
boy, came home from school he had three lit¬ 
tle sticks in one paw, and a ball of string 
and a bottle of paste in the other paw. And 
Mother Cottontail knew right away what he 
was going to do with them without having 
to ask a single question. 


THE FLYAWAY KITE STORY 


15 


“Can I use the table for a little while?” 
asked Bunty. 

And as soon as Mother Cottontail nodded 
her head he started to work. First of all, he 
tied the three little sticks together in the 
middle and then ran a string around the end 
of each stick to keep them in position. And 
after that he covered the whole thing with 
paper. 

“Well, I declare,” said Mother Cotton¬ 
tail, as he held it up for her to see, “if it isn’t 
a kite!” 

“Do you think it looks all right?” asked 
her little bunny boy. 

“It’s just as nice as any little kite I ever 
saw,” declared Mother Cottontail. 

So Bunty carried it carefully upstairs and 
put it away in the closet so that it would be 
all ready to fly the next afternoon when 


16 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



BUNTY CARRIED IT CAREFULLY UPSTAIRS 





THE FLYAWAY KITE STORY 17 

school was dismissed. And that night, be¬ 
fore he fell asleep, he kept wishing to him¬ 
self that it would be windy the next day. 

When Bunty reached the vacant lot the 
next afternoon he found that his little 
bunny chum, Benny Bun, had reached there 
ahead of him. And Benny’s kite was flying 
high above the tree tops. 

“Does it pull?” asked Bunty, eagerly. 

“Just you hold it,” answered Benny. 

“Whee-e-e-e!” whistled Bunty, as soon as 
he took hold of the string, “well, I guess it 
does!” 

And he was so eager to get his own kite 
flying that he could hardly wait until he 
got it ready. But in a few minutes the two 
little kites were sailing together in the sky 
side by side. 

Now it would be hard to say just what 


18 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

the trouble was, whether the wind was too 
strong or the string too weak, but, anyway, 
all of a sudden Bunty’s string snapped and 
away went his kite tumbling over and over 
in the sky. And he was just about to give 
a yell when there came another snap and off 
went Benny’s kite with the same kind of 
flip-flops and knock-arounds in the air. 
“Come on, Bunty,” shouted Benny 

quickly, “let’s chase them!” 

Away ran the two little bunny boys after 

the runaway kites, and for a little while it 
looked as though the kites were not going to 
stop at all. But they gave a funny roly- 
poly sort of a dive and landed in the top 
of Mrs. Richbun’s big pear-tree. 

“Now, what shall we do?” asked Bunty, 
as they both stopped. 

And it was no wonder they stopped, for 


THE FLYAWAY KITE STORY 


19 


Mrs. Richbun had a cross old rabbit gardener 
who didn’t like the little bunny boys in the 
neighborhood any better than they liked him. 
But probably it was all because he was 
afraid they would sneak some of Mrs. Rich- 
bun’s pears. 

But, all the same, Bunty and Benny 
finally made up their minds to climb over 
the high brick wall at the end of the garden 
and rescue their kites from off the pear-tree. 
And just as they reached the top of the wall 
Bunty caught Benny by the paw. 

“Oh, look there!” he whispered, excitedly, 
as he pointed towards a big flock of black¬ 
birds who were busily digging up Mrs. Rich- 
bun’s flower seeds. 

“The mean things!” cried Bunty. “Let’s 
chase them away or else Mr. Wobble will 
have to plant all his seeds over again!” So 


20 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

they started after those blackbirds, yelling 
and shooing at the top of their voices, with¬ 
out stopping to think that they might run 
into the cross old gardener. 

“Aha!” growled a gruff voice all of a sud¬ 
den, and out popped Mr. Wobble from be¬ 
hind a tall bush and grabbed one of those 
surprised little bunny boys in each paw. 

“What do you mean coming in here?” he 
demanded. 

“Please—please, Mr. Wobble,” pleaded 
Bunty, “we came in to get our kites down 
off the pear-tree.” 

“And we stopped to chase those old black¬ 
birds away from your seeds,” added Benny. 

Now, do you know, old Mr. Wobble 
couldn’t have been such a cross old rabbit 
gardener after all, for what did he do but 
start to chuckle and tell the two little bunny 


THE FLYAWAY KITE STORY 


21 


boys to climb up the tree and get their kites. 

And I shouldn’t wonder at all but what 
his being so nice was all on account of their 
stopping to scare away the blackbirds. You 
know one good turn deserves another, even 
if it is with a cross old rabbit gardener who 
doesn’t like to have little bunny boys around. 

And that’s all. 


II 


THE LITTLE MISS CHEER STORY 

E upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 



22 











THE LITTLE MISS CHEER STORY 


23 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

If any of the other bunny folks had met 
Benny Bun, the little bunny boy, on his way 
down to the brook that morning, they would 
have known right away that something was 
wrong, for instead of looking happy and 
smiling as he usually did, Benny’s little face 
was all puckered up in a frown. 

“I just wish I could run away and never 
come back again,” he grumbled to himself, as 
he trudged along. 


24 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

You see, it was entirely Benny’s own 
fault, for if he hadn’t teased his little bunny 
sister, Curly, Mother Bun would have never 
scolded him. But, of course, the little 
bunny boy had made up his mind that his 
mother always took his little sister’s part in 
everything. 

When he reached the big rock by the side 
of the brook where the water made a deep 
pool Benny leaned over the edge to see if he 
could discover any minnows swimming 
about. And just as soon as he leaned over 
he caught sight of his face reflected in the 
pool below and it was every bit as clear as 
though he was looking in the big mirror at 
home. 

But somehow or other the little face look¬ 
ing up at him from out of the water didn’t 
seem a bit like the face he always saw in the 


THE LITTLE MISS CHEER STORY 


25 







26 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

mirror at home. In fact it was anything but 
a pleasant little face to look at. 

“She’s always scolding me,” he said to 
himself, frowning harder than ever. 

And he had no sooner said it when he 
heard a funny, squeaky kind of a noise right 
below him and there close to the rock stood 
the queerest little man he had ever seen in all 
his life. But before Benny could even cry 
“oh!” the funny little man began to dance 
up and down and chant in his high squeaky 
voice : 

“Grumpity! Grumpity! little boy pout! 

When kiddies are cross you’ll find me about. 
There’s nothing I like quite so much as a frown, 
You see, I’m King Crosspatch of old Grumble 
Town!” 

And the way that funny little elf danced, 
and the way he sang made Benny smile. He 
just couldn’t help it. 


THE LITTLE MISS CHEER STORY 


27 


“Don’t you dare smile!” cried old King 
Crosspatch in an angry tone. “If you do I’ll 
go right away and never come back.” 

“Hee! Hee!” giggled Benny, forgetting 
all about being cross any more, “you’re such 
a funny little man!” And that made the 
little elf angrier than ever. 

“I don’t like little bunny boys who smile,” 
he shouted fiercely, “and, if you don’t stop, 
I’ll not stay another minute.” 

And just as Benny had burst out laughing 
louder than ever the little old man disap¬ 
peared like a puff of smoke. And it was 
hard to say whether he jumped into the pool 
or hid under the rock. 

“Has he gone?” asked another little voice 
just then from the other side of the rock, and 
there stood a pretty little fairy among a 
cluster of big blue violets. 


28 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 


“I—I guess so, 5 ’ stammered Benny, who 
was more surprised than ever. 

And that quick the wee little fairy maid 
began to sing a song that went like this: 

“Grumpity! Grumpity ! little boy pout! 

What in the world are you cross about % 

Just start in to smile and remember I’m here, 

The gayest and joiliest little Miss Cheer.” 

“Now then,” asked little Miss Cheer, as 
soon as she had finished, “which song do you 
like the best, mine or old King Cross- 
patch’s 4 ?” 

“Why, yours is the nicest,” declared 
Benny, quickly. 

“That’s just what I thought,” said little 
Miss Cheer, “so I came hurrying up as soon 
as I heard you laughing. You see, it keeps 
one busy watching old King Crosspatch.” 

And before Benny could answer, the little 


THE LITTLE MISS CHEER STORY 29 

fairy’s face took on a startled look as she 
jumped out from among the violets. 

“Oh dear!” she exclaimed, ‘Til have to 
hurry along or perhaps that old King Cross- 
patch will be after some little animal boy 
while I’m not there!” 

“Please stay a little longer,” pleaded 
Benny. But the little fairy had already dis¬ 
appeared. 

But, anyway, Benny was so delighted at 
seeing little Miss Cheer that he kept smiling 
all the way home. And when he told 
Mother Bun all about his adventure he was 
quite sure that he liked the cheerful little 
fairy maid better than disagreeable old King 
Crosspatch. 

And that’s all. 


Ill 

THE BOATING STORY 

CE upon a time there 



was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 


house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 


30 










THE BOATING STORY 


31 


would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Bunty and Buzzy Cottontail, the two lit¬ 
tle bunny brothers, went down to the duck 
pond one day for a frolic, and after they had 
poked at the polliwogs along shore with their 
sticks, and made old Mr. Bullfrog jump 
overboard, they happened to spy an old boat 
that was tied to a clump of bushes nearby. 

“Oh, let’s take a boat ride!” cried Bunty, 
eagerly. 1 


3 2 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

And, of course, that just suited Buzzy, for 
there was nothing at all pleased these two 
little bunny boys more than to float around 
on the water. So they untied the boat and 
both jumped in to row across the duck pond. 

But before they had gone very far they 
heard someone whistle and there came their 
little bunny chum, Tommy Toddles, run¬ 
ning down the path towards them as fast as 
he could come. And when he reached the 
edge of the water he called to them to come 
back and take him along. 

“All right!” sang out Bunty, “just wait 
till we get turned around.” 

When the little boat touched shore 
Tommy jumped in, and away they floated 
again for a trip across the pond. But this 
time they had only gone a few yards when 
they heard another whistle from shore. 


THE BOATING STORY 


33 








34 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Ho, fellows!” yelled a little bunny boy 
on the bank, “take me along, will you?” 
And there was Laddie Bun, another little 
playmate of theirs, waiting to take a boat 
ride, too. 

Now that made four little bunny boys in 
one little boat, but the little boat was strong, 
and away they started across the pond for 
the third time. 

“I wonder if any one else will come along 
for a ride?” said Bunty, and just that quick 
there came another yell from shore. And 
this time it was two little bunny boys in¬ 
stead of only one. 

“It’s Teddy and Billy Fluff!” cried 
Buzzy, and, sure enough, that is just who 
it was. 

“Come on back and give us a ride,” cried 
the two little Fluffs as they waved their 


THE BOATING STORY 


35 


paws to their little playmates out in the 
boat. 

“Maybe there’ll be too many and the boat 
will sink,” spoke up Tommy, a little doubt¬ 
fully. 

“Huh!” scoffed Bunty, “you wouldn’t 
find a boat like this sink that easy.” 

But, all the same, when those other two 
little bunny boys climbed aboard, the water 
crept very, very close to the edge of the boat. 

“Now be careful and don’t wobble,” cau¬ 
tioned Buzzy. 

So, of course, they were all as careful as 
could be not to shake the boat, and no doubt 
they would have rowed safely across if it 
hadn’t been for little Molly Cottontail. 
The little bunny girl had followed her two 
little bunny brothers down to the duck pond 
and as soon as she caught sight of them out 


36 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

in the boat she called to them. And that 
quick those six little bunny boy sailors 
turned around to see who it was. Before 
they had time to think about it they wobbled 
the boat so that the water poured over the 
edge. And down it went! 

Now you can well imagine how fright¬ 
ened poor little Molly was when she saw the 
boat go under and all those little bunny boys 

struggling in the water. And the first thing 

% 

she thought about was to run for help. So 
she started back to Bunnyway Lane as fast 
as her little legs could take her. 

The first one of the bunny folks she met 
was Mother Toddles, and as soon as the 
bunny mother had heard what had happened, 
she ran next door to tell Uncle Fluff. And 
as soon as the bunny uncle knew about it he 
started off down the street as fast as he could 


THE BOATING STORY 


37 


go, and only stopped long enough at Daddy 
Longears’ store to tell the doggie storekeeper 
about the six little bunny boys who had 
fallen into the duck pond. 

“Hurry! Hurry!” urged Daddy, as he 
went flying down the street at Uncle Fluff’s 
heels. And, goodness me, how those two old 
bunny gentlemen did run! 

But before they got quite to the pond who 
should they see coming up the path towards 
them but the six little bunny boys them¬ 
selves. And such a forlorn looking lot of 
little animal kiddies you never saw in all 
your life. 

The water was not very deep where the 
boat sank, so they had no trouble in wading 
ashore. But every last one of them was as 
wet as wet could be. 

Anyway, Uncle Fluff and Daddy Long- 


38 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

ears were glad to know that all the little 

bunny boys were safe, and they made them 
promise that the next time they went boat¬ 
ing they would be a little more careful not 
to overload the boat. 

And that’s all. 


IV 


THE SIMPLE SIMON STORY 

E upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 



39 










40 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

One day when Tommy Toddles, the little 
bunny boy, stopped at Daddy Longears’ 
store on an errand for Mother Toddles, he 
spied something sitting on the counter that 
made him stop to take a second look. It was 
a little china ornament of a little lady 
dressed all in green, riding a little brown 
horse. And the little lady smiled so pleas¬ 
antly at him that Tommy felt sure she was 
trying to say “Hello!” 


THE SIMPLE SIMON STORY 


41 


“What do you think of that little green 
lady?” asked the jolly old bunny store¬ 
keeper, as he finished wrapping up the pack¬ 
age for Tommy Toddles. 

“Oh, isn’t she pretty!” cried Tommy. “I 
wish she was mine to stand on our sitting- 
room table at home.” 

“I shouldn’t wonder but what that little 
lady would be a happy little lady, indeed, if 
she could gallop across your sitting-room 
table,” declared Daddy. 

So, when Tommy reached home, the first 
thing he told Mother Toddles was about the 
pretty little lady in green down at Daddy 
Longears’ store, and asked whether he might 
buy her. And Mother Toddles said he 
might if he would take his own pennies. 

That same afternoon the little green lady 
was riding her prancing horse on the table in 



42 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 


RIDING HER PRANCING HORSE ON THE TABLE 







THE SIMPLE SIMON STORY 


43 


the Toddles’ sitting-room, while Tommy sat 
in the big arm chair by the window watching 
her for a long time. 

“I wonder where she wants to go,” 
thought the little bunny boy, as he gave a 
sleepy little yawn. And a few moments 
later the little green lady was forgotten, for 
he was sound asleep. 

But, all of a sudden, he seemed to be wide 
awake again and there was the little lady on 
horseback growing bigger and bigger right 
before his eyes. And the little brown horse 
began to dance and prance just like Farmer 
Frisk’s little dapple gray when he wanted to 
hurry away. 

“Jump on behind and we’ll be off for an 
adventure,” called the little green lady, and 
before Tommy had time to think about it 
they were out of the window and going like 


44 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

the wind. And before he could blink more 
than once or twice they stopped in front of 
a little white cottage sitting all by itself by 
the side of the road, and the little green lady 
told him to jump to the ground. 

‘Til be back in just a little while,” she 
promised, “and while I’m gone you can play 
with Simple Simon.” 

Before she was quite out of sight the door 
of the little white cottage opened and there 
stood Simple Simon, looking just like the 
foolish little lad one sees in the “Mother 
Goose” book. 

“Hello!” cried Simple Simon, “who are 
you?” 

“I’m Tommy Toddles,” replied the little 
bunny boy. “And you’re Simple Simon, 
aren’t you?” he asked, eagerly. 

“I’m not simple!” exclaimed the little 


THE SIMPLE SIMON STORY 


45 


“Mother Goose” boy, angrily; “I’m just as 
smart as you are!” 

“Please don’t be cross,” begged Tommy; 
“that’s what you are called in 'Mother 
Goose’.” 

“It’s all a mistake,” declared Simple 
Simon; “just you wait till the pieman comes 
along and I’ll show you.” 

So Tommy and Simple Simon sat under 
the big apple-tree by the side of the little 
white cottage and waited for the pieman to 
come along. And as soon as they heard him 
coming down the road Simple Simon ran to 
meet him. 

“Where’s your penny?” asked the pieman, 
just as he did in the rhyme. 

“Aha!” laughed Simple Simon, “I’ve got 
two pennies, so, you see, I’m not as simple as 
you thought.” 


46 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

And, sure enough, he was able to buy two 
little pies, and one of them he ate himself 
and the other he gave to Tommy. And by 
the time the little bunny boy had eaten his 
pie the little green lady came galloping up. 

“Good-by, little bunny boy!” shouted 
Simple Simon, as Tommy jumped on the 
back of the little brown horse. 

“Good-by, Simon!” called Tommy as they 
started away. And it made the little 
“Mother Goose” boy feel very happy that 
Tommy had not called him Simple. 

And just as he was flying through the air 
on the back of the wonderful little horse, 
Tommy heard some one calling, and there 
was Mother Toddles telling him to waken. 

And that’s all. 


V 


THE SPRINGTIME STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when- the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 


47 







48 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Mother Cottontail and Mother Toddles, 
the two bunny mothers, were talking to¬ 
gether one day about the things that had hap¬ 
pened in the neighborhood, and after a little 
bit Mother Cottontail started to tell Mother 
Toddles about her little bunny boy, Bunty. 

“He surely must be sick,” said Mother 
Cottontail, “or he wouldn’t act the way he 
does.” 


THE SPRINGTIME STORY 


49 


“Doesn’t he want to do anything for 
you 1 ?’’ asked Mother Toddles. 

“That’s just the trouble,” replied the 
other bunnv mother; “he wants to sit around 
all the time without helping me one bit.” 

“There, just as I thought!” declared 
Mother Toddles; “it’s the same way with 
Tommy. I can’t get that little bunny boy 
to do a thing. But I’m sure he’s not feeling 
sick,” she added, “for just as soon as one of 
his little playmates comes around he’s ready 
for a frolic.” 

“Bunny acts just like him,” said Mother 
Cottontail; “he will run and romp the live¬ 
long day without saying a word about being 
tired, but just as soon as I ask him to do the 
least little thing he looks quite distressed 
about it.” 

Now that very same afternoon it hap- 


50 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

pened that Mother Cottontail met Doctor 
Squeeks, the nice old bunny doctor of Bun¬ 
nyway Lane, and the first thing she told him 
was about her little bunny boy, Bunty. 
And by the time she got through the bunny 
doctor had a funny little twinkle in his eyes. 

“Don’t you worry one bit,” he told 
Mother Cottontail; “you might call it some 
kind of a fever that your little bunny has 
caught, but you’ll find it’s not serious at all. 
In fact nearly all little bunny boys get it 
about this time of the year and as soon as 
the days get a little warmer it disappears 
like magic.” 

“My goodness!” exclaimed Mother Cot¬ 
tontail, looking quite alarmed about it, 
“you say it’s some kind of fever 4 ?” 

“That’s what they call it,” chuckled Doc¬ 
tor Squeeks, 4 'and no doubt you’ve often 


THE SPRINGTIME STORY 


5 1 


heard of it. Some folks call it spring fever 
and you only get it once a year.” 

“Well, well!” laughed Mother Cotton¬ 
tail, “maybe that’s just what it is.” 

The next day when Bunty Cottontail was 
on his way home from school, he passed by 
the high board fence that enclosed the va¬ 
cant lot where the little bunny boys played 
ball in the summer time. And all of a sud¬ 
den he heard someone talking on the other 
side of the fence. 

Now, there happened to be a ladder stand¬ 
ing against the fence, and before you could 
say Jack Robinson Bunty had climbed up to 
take a peep over the top. 

“Oh-h-h!” he went just like that, for there 
were his two little bunny chums, Laddie 
and Tommy, playing ball. Laddie would 
knock the ball up into the air while Tommy 



5 2 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 


CLIMBED UP TO TAKE A PEEP OVER THE TOP 



















THE SPRINGTIME STORY 


53 


would try to catch it when it came down. 

“Hello, Bunty!” cried Tommy, as soon as 
he caught sight of his little bunny chum look¬ 
ing over the fence, “jump over and play 
along!” 

But, instead of climbing over the fence, 
Bunty jumped down off the ladder and 
started down the street as hard as he could 
go to look for some of the other little bunny 
boys. And the first one he spied was Dickie 
Whiteface. 

“Come on, Dickie!” he cried to his little 
bunny chum, “we’re going to have a game of 
ball!” 

“All right!” yelled Dickie, “I’m ready!” 

And one by one they gathered together 
the other little bunny boys in the neighbor¬ 
hood until there was just enough to play 
sides counting Laddie and Tommy. And 


54 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

from then until supper time they played ball 
as hard as they could play, so that when 
they started for home they were so tired out 
they could hardly walk. 

But, do you know, that cured the spring 
fever, and from that time on not one of those 
little bunny boys had even a touch of it. 
When Mother Cottontail and Mother Tod¬ 
dles, or any of the other bunny mothers asked 
their little bunny boys to do something, they 
ran and did it without a frown or a grum¬ 
ble. And it all came about by those little 
animal kiddies getting warmed up over their 
ball game just as though it was a hot sum¬ 
mer’s day. So, you see, wise old Doctor 
Squeeks knew what he was talking about. 

And that’s all. 


VI 


THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY 

STORY 


CE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 



house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 

sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


55 














56 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

» 

girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Bunty and Buzzy Cottontail, the two lit¬ 
tle bunny boys, were walking down the lane 
towards Farmer Frisk’s big red barn, one 
day, and like little animals boys do some¬ 
times, they got to boasting to each other 
how easy it was to drive a horse. 

“I just wish that little dapple gray of 
Farmer Frisk’s would try to run away when 
I was driving him,” said Bunty, “I’d show 
him!” 


THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 


5 7 


“So would I!” declared Buzzy; “he 
wouldn’t run very far, I’ll tell you that ! 55 

And just then a big black crow sitting on 
the fence by the side of the road flapped his 
wings and went, caw! caw! caw! just as 
though he was laughing at those two fool¬ 
ish little bunny boys. 

Well, anyway, when Bunty and Buzzy 
reached Farmer Frisk’s big red barn they 
found the bunny farmer busy at work in the 
barn-yard. And as soon as he caught sight 
of them he waved his paw and called to them 
to hurry up. 

“I wonder what he wants,” whispered 
Bunty. 

“I wonder, too,” replied his little bunny 
brother, as they both ran though the gate 
into the barn-yard. 

“Hello, boys!” greeted the farmer bunny 


58 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

with a jolly smile. “Are you looking for 
something to do 4 ?” 

Now Farmer Frisk knew as well as any¬ 
body that those two little bunny boys were 
as eager as they could be to help him, for 
there was nothing pleased the little animal 
boys half so much as to drive the cows in 
from the pasture or sit on the seat of the big 
wagon and say “giddap!” to the little dap¬ 
ple gray horse. 

“You see, it’s this way,” explained the 
bunny farmer, “I’ve got a load of hay to take 
down to Daddy Longears’ store and I’m so 
busy that I hardly have the time to go. So 
I was just wondering whether—” 

“Oh, let us go! Let us go!” sang out 
both little bunny boys eagerly, before 
Farmer Frisk had time to finish. 

“But maybe you’re not quite big enough 



THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 


59 


to manage that little dapple gray,” said the 
bunny farmer, with a twinkle in his eyes. 

“Huh!” sniffed Bunty, “I can drive him 
as easy as anything!” 

“Just you try us,” added Buzzy. 

So Farmer Frisk hitched the little dapple 
gray to the hay wagon and in a very little 
while the hay was all loaded on ready to 
start. Bunty sat in front to do the driving 
while Buzzy dangled his feet over the rear 
end so that he could slip off and put on the 
brake when they came to a steep hill. 

“Now be careful,” cautioned Farmer 
Frisk, as Bunty chirped to the little dapple 
gray, and away they went. 

For quite a while they rumbled along with 
the little dapple gray pulling as nice as you 
please. And everything would have gone 
all right if that little bunny driver hadn’t 


60 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

gotten it into his fluffy little head that he 
wanted to go a little faster. 

“Giddap! Giddap!” he sang out, as he 
brought the little switch in his paw down 
across the little dapple gray’s back. 

Now that little dapple gray had never 
felt a whip in all his life and it surprised 
him so that he nearly jumped out of his har¬ 
ness. And away he went down the road 
like a little white streak. 

“Whoa! Whoa!” yelled Bunty at the 
top of his voice, while Buzzy almost took a 
tumble off the other end of the load. 

But the little horse kept right on going, 
and with two shakes of his little white tail 
he tore loose from the wagon and pulled 
Bunty clean off the top of the load. But 
the little bunny boy kept a tight hold on the 
reins and called for Buzzy to come help him. 


THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 


6i 



KEPT A TIGHT HOLD ON THE REINS 













62 the SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Before his little bunny brother could get to 
him, however, the little dapple gray had 
broken away and was on his way home with 
reins dangling behind him. 

And do you know he never stopped run¬ 
ning until he reached the big red barn. So, 
of course, as soon as Farmer Frisk caught 
sight of him he knew that something had 
happened. 

And before that little dapple gray had 
time to look around the bunny farmer was 
on his back and away they went down the 
road to where Bunty and Buzzy were stand¬ 
ing by the side of the hay wagon waiting for 
some one to come along. And you can imag¬ 
ine how glad they were when they caught 
sight of Farmer Frisk bringing back the lit¬ 
tle runaway. 

So the little horse had to pull the load of 


THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 63 

hay to Daddy Longears’ store after all, only 
this time Farmer Frisk was driver while the 
two little bunny boys sat close behind 
him. 

Now that little dapple gray of Farmer 
Frisk’s had just as nice a home as any little 
horse you ever saw, but like some little boys 
and girls you may have heard about, he 
wasn’t a bit satisfied. He had a nice warm 
barn to sleep in and plenty of oats and hay 
to eat three times a day. And many and 
many a time his nice old bunny master would 
bring him out a big red apple or a lump of 
sugar. But even then this little discon¬ 
tented horse felt sure at times that his home 
was a very dreary place to live and he longed 
for the big outside world where there were 
other little horses to talk to. 

“Some day some one will forget to put up 


64 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

the pasture bars,” thought this foolish lit¬ 
tle horse to himself with a saucy stamp of 
his foot, “and then I’ll run away and never, 
never come back again!” 

And it seemed the funniest thing that just 
a few days after that who should come out 
to Farmer Frisk’s again but Bunty Cotton¬ 
tail, the little bunny boy. And he seemed 
just as eager to help the bunny farmer as he 
had been that day to drive the little dapple 
gray in the hay wagon. So the bunny 
farmer told him to go out and feed the little 
horse in the pasture field. 

When Bunty reached the pasture bars he 
found the little dapple gray rubbing his soft 
little nose against a post and waiting for 
some one to come along with his dinner. 

“Hello, Dappy!” he called, as he patted 
him between the ears. And the little dap- 


THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 65 

pie gray said “Hello!” in the way that little 
horses talk. 

A few moments later he was munching 
contentedly away on a big pawful of hay 
that Bunty had thrown over the fence to him. 
And after he had eaten the last stem of it 
the little bunny boy took down the bars and 
led him across to the pump for a drink. 

But, goodness me, what do you think hap¬ 
pened when Bunty brought the little dapple 
gray back to the pasture field again? Why, 
that careless little bunny boy walked away 
without putting up the bars, and that quick 
the little horse went prancing away through 
the opening in the fence. But it wasn’t 
very long after that before Farmer Frisk dis¬ 
covered that the little dapple gray had dis¬ 
appeared. 

“You’ll have to try and catch him,” he 


66 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 





THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 67 

said to Bunty, so away went the little bunny 

boy down through the meadow, and over 

the brook, and around to the edge of the big 

woods beyond. But the little dapple gray 

was nowhere in sight. 

And it was no wonder that Bunty couldn’t 

find him, for that venturesome little horse 

had gone clear to the other side of the big 

woods. And there he stood in the tall green 

grass, nipping off the tender clover heads. 

But somehow or other the big outside 

world didn’t seem near as nice to that little 

horse as he thought it would, and before 

long he was wishing that he was back home 

in Farmer Frisk’s pasture field. So what 

did he do but turn around and trot for home 

as fast as he could go. 

When Bunty got back to the big red barn 
* 

there stood the little dapple gray at the bars 


68 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

waiting to be let into the pasture field. And 
you ought to have seen that little bunny 
boy run to tell Farmer Frisk. 

‘Tve half a mind not to let you in at all,” 
declared the bunny farmer, shaking his paw 
under the little runaway’s nose. “Aren’t 
you ashamed of yourself for running away 
like that?” 

And the little dapple gray surely must 
have felt very sorry for the way he had be¬ 
haved for he hung his head like a naughty 
little boy. And he appeared to be very 
much afraid that his master would never let 
him go back into the pasture field again. 

But the bunny farmer must have been 
fooling all the time, for he took down the 
bars and left the little dapple gray into the 
pasture field. And the little horse was so 
glad to get back that he kept running from 


THE LITTLE DAPPLE GRAY STORY 69 

one fence to the other as fast as he could go. 

And as for Bunty, he seemed every bit as 
glad to have the little dapple gray back 
again, and before he left for home he begged 
Farmer Frisk to give him a big rosy-cheeked 
apple to take out to the little horse. 

And that’s all. 


VII 

THE GETTING CROSS STORY 

E upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 



70 












THE GETTING CROSS STORY 71 

sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

It had started to snow some time during 
the night and when the little bunny chil¬ 
dren looked out of the windows of the little 
brick houses the next morning the big feath¬ 
ery snow flakes were still falling. And the 
first thing those little animal kiddies thought 
about was the jolly good time they were go¬ 
ing to have playing in the snow. 


72 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

On their way to school the little bunny 
boys discovered that the snow was just right 
to make snowballs, so all the way down 
Bunnyway Lane they kept pelting each 
other, until some of them began to look like 
little snow boys. But, of course, it was all 
in fun and even though one did get his ear 
full of snow, or a crack on the nose, he just 
laughed and went on throwing harder than 
ever. 

Now it happened that Tommy Toddles, 
the little bunny boy, had an errand to do for 
Mother Toddles after school let out that 
afternoon, so he was quite a bit later than the 
other bunny boys in starting for home. And 
just as he was passing by the high brick wall 
in front of Mrs. Richbun’s garden, a big pile 
of snow tumbled down the top of the wall 
and almost knocked him over. 


THE GETTING CROSS STORY 


73 


If there ever was a cross little bunny boy 
it was Tommy Toddles as he brushed off 
the snow. And he felt sure as could be that 
he heard several soft little giggles behind 
the wall when the snow hit him. And that 
quick he made up his mind that some of his 
little playmates had played a trick on him. 

“The mean things!” he cried angrily; 
“they dumped all that snow on me while I 
wasn’t looking. 

“Just wait!” he gritted to himself; “I’ll 
get even with them!” 

When this little bunny boy reached home 
he was still in a bad humor, and when he 
came into the sitting-room he found his lit¬ 
tle bunny brother, Tippie, sitting in the big 
arm chair by the window. And Tippie had 
just picked up his little bunny sister’s doll 
and was looking at it. 


74 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



OFF CAME THAT POOR LITTLE DOLLY’S HEAD 






THE GETTING CROSS STORY 


75 


“Here, you put her down!” cried Tommy, 
the very first thing; “Tiny doesn’t want you 
to have her.” 

“Yes, she does, too,” replied Tippie; “she 
said she didn’t care when I asked her be¬ 
fore.” 

But Tommy was just cross enough to be 
contrary, so he jumped for the dolly and 
tried to take it away from his little bunny 
brother. And, goodness me, how they did 
pull and tug at that little dolly. 

“Oh-h-h-h!” gasped both little bunny 
boys, all of a sudden, for, would you believe 
it, off came that poor little dolly’s head and 
one arm! 

“Now see what you’ve done!” cried 

/ 

Tommy; “I’m going to tell Mother Tod¬ 
dles.” 

And, would you believe it, he raced out 


76 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

into the kitchen to tell Mother Toddles 
that Tippie had broken Tiny’s doll. But 
Mother Toddles was a very wise old bunny 
mother. 

“Who had the dolly first?” she asked. 

“Why—why, Tippie,” hesitated Tommy. 

“And you tried to take it away from him, 
didn’t you?” said the bunny mother. 

“Yes’m,” answered her little bunny boy. 

“I see,” said Mother Toddles, “whose 
fault it was. You’re a naughty, cross lit¬ 
tle bunny boy, and I’m going to take enough 
of your pennies to pay for having the dolly 
fixed.” 

And that made Tommy crosser than 
ever! 

The next morning he hurried off to school 
ahead of any of the other little bunny boys 
and when he came to the high brick wall in 



THE GETTING CROSS STORY 


77 


front of Mrs. Richbun’s garden, he looked 
carefully all around to see if the cross old 
rabbit gardener, Mr. Wobble, was anywhere 
about; and then crawled back of the wall to 
hide. And by the time Bunty and Laddie 
and Jackie came along there was a big pile 
of snow on top of the wall waiting for them. 

And just as they got under it Tommy gave 
it a push and down it went all over those 
three little bunny boys! Why, for a few 
moments they could hardly get their breath, 
they were so full of the soft, sticky snow. 

But the queer part of it was they didn’t 
seem to get a bit cross about it, and as 
Tommy ran across the yard to the gate on 
the other side he could hear them laughing 
and shouting. 

“Whee-e-e!” whooped Bunty, “wasn’t 
that a whopper 


78 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“I wonder who pushed it off?’’ cried Lad¬ 
die. 

“It didn’t hurt us!” laughed Jackie; “who 
cares for a little snow!” 

“Huh!” sniffed Tommy, in a disappointed 
tone, as he hurried down the street all by 
himself, “they didn’t get a bit cross! And 
what fun is there in trying to pay anyone 
back when they only laugh about it?” 

And that same day when Tommy hap¬ 
pened to meet Uncle Fluff in front of 
Mother Bun’s front gate and heard what 
the nice old bunny gentleman had to tell 
him, he felt very sorry, indeed, that he had 
gotten so cross the day before all on account 
of a little snow falling on him. 

“It was the funniest thing I ever saw!” 
chuckled Uncle Fluff. “I was walking on 
the other side of the street and saw you pass 


THE GETTING CROSS STORY 


79 


by Mrs. Richbun’s high brick wall. And 
all of a sudden down came a lot of snow all 
over you!” 

“Did you see who pushed it off?” asked 
Tommy eagerly. 

“Why, no one at all,” replied Uncle 
Fluff. “It just happened to start to slide 
as you came along.” 

“Then it wasn’t Bunty and Laddie and 
Jackie after all,” thought Tommy, “and 
here I got cross about nothing!” 

And he made up his mind that the next 
time anything like that happened he wasn’t 
going to get cross at all. For he felt sure 
there was more fun in laughing over it than 
getting cross. 

And that’s all. 


VIII 

THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 

' CE upon a time there 



was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 


house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 

and their two little boys, little Charles and 

little John. And often in the long winter 

evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 

would tell the two little bovs stories of 

* 

Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


80 









THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 


8 l 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

One afternoon there was a dozen or more 
of the little bunny boys playing on the va¬ 
cant lot in the rear of the Cottontails’ gar¬ 
den, and after they had played almost every 
kind of a game they could think of, Bunny 
Cottontail, the little bunny boy, suggested 
that they play soldier. 

“How do you play it 6 ?” asked his little 
bunny chum, Tommy Toddles; “just march 
up and down?” 


82 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 


“Well, I guess not,” replied Bunty. 
“We’ll have a make-believe camp and pre¬ 
tend that we’re really truly soldiers.” 

“All right!” cried Laddie Bun, another 
one of the little bunny boys, “I’ll be the cap¬ 
tain in command.” 

“Huh!” sniffed Dickie Whiteface, “you 
always want to be the head one.” 

“I’ll tell you what you can do,” said 
Bunty quickly, “one of you can be the 
captain and the other can be the drummer 
boy.” 

So Dickie decided that he would rather be 
the drummer boy, and a few minutes later 
he had found an old tin boiler and two little 
sticks to beat it with. 

“Now,” said Bunty, after they had all 
gathered together, “you’ll be the company 
of soldiers and I’ll be one of the enemy. 


THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 


83 


And then you can capture me and bring me 
back to camp.” 

“And then what?” asked Captain 
Tommy. 

“Then you can tie me to that big post over 
there and keep me a prisoner,” explained 
Bunty. 

“Let’s start right away!” cried Dickie, 
starting to beat his make-believe drum at a 
furious rate. 

“Right foot! Left foot! Right foot! 
Left foot!” sang out the little captain of the 
bunny company, and off they marched across 
the lot. 

And before they had quite reached the 
other side who should they meet but Bunty, 
who, of course, was one of the enemy they 
wanted to capture. 

“Halt!” ordered Captain Tommy, and 


84 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

three of the little bunny soldiers pounced on 
Bunty and made him a prisoner. 

“Forward, march!” cried the little cap¬ 
tain again, and away they went back to camp. 

But the trouble was that when they came 
to tie the prisoner to the big post they found 
they didn’t have a bit of twine to tie him 
with, so Bunty had to run into the house and 
get a piece out of the cupboard. 

As soon as the little bunny prisoner was 
securely tied to the post the whole company 
started off again across the lot to look for 
more of the enemy, and when they returned 
Bunty was to promise not to fight any more 
and they were to release him. 

But, goodness me, something happened 
before the little company got back to camp 
again that changed all their plans: for all of 
a sudden Tiny Toddles, the little bunny girl, 


THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 85 

came running up to tell them that Mother 
Bun’s big red rooster had escaped from the 
chicken yard and was parading up and down 
Bunnyway Lane as bold as you please. 

“Let’s catch him!” shouted Captain 
Tommy, and away they scampered, forget¬ 
ting all about their little prisoner tied to the 
post. 

“Wait for me!” yelled Bunty, at the top 
of his voice. But his little playmates were 
too excited about that big red rooster to think 
about stopping. 

By the time Bunty had managed to untie 
the knots in the twine that bound him to the 
post his little companions had all disap¬ 
peared in pursuit of the runaway rooster. 
But the funny part of it was that as he 
dashed away after them he almost ran into 
the red rooster himself. There he was dodg- 


86 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

ing from one place to another and trying his 
best to keep away from that noisy little band 
of bunny boys. 

But he wasn’t quite quick enough to es¬ 
cape Bunty, and the next instant the little 
bunny boy had caught him by the leg. And 
with all his flapping and squawking he 
couldn’t get away! 

When Bunty walked down the street, 
carrying his prisoner, and met all the other 
little bunny boys they were so surprised 
that they just stood still and looked. 

“How—how did you catch him 4 ?” stam¬ 
mered Tommy. 

“It was easy as anything!” declared 
Bunty, “even if you did run away and leave 
me all tied up.” 

And the way he looked at his little play¬ 
mates you could see right away that he 


THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 87 

didn’t think they were very good soldiers. 

Now the next day it got to be very much 
colder and it looked as though little Jack 
Frost had planned to pay his little bunny 
friends a visit. And, sure enough, that very 
night it started to snow and kept it up until 
the next morning, so that when the little 
bunny boys opened their eyes they were sur¬ 
prised to find a deep snow covering the 
ground. 

As soon as school let out that afternoon 
Bunty Cottontail and Tommy Toddles and 
all their little playmates started for the va¬ 
cant lot to have a snow battle. And you’d 
be surprised to know how quickly a crowd 
of little bunny boys can build a dandy big 
snow fort when the snow is just sticky 
enough to roll into big balls. 

After the fort was all finished Captain 


88 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Bunty Cottontail and his brave little Bunny- 
ville Army was to defend it against Cap¬ 
tain Tommy Toddles and his band of Rab¬ 
bit Rebels. So Captain Tommy drew off a 
little distance with his soldiers and awaited 
the signal to attack. 

There was only one thing that bothered 
Captain Bunty and that was that their sup¬ 
ply of snowballs might give out before they 
were able to drive off the enemy. So he or¬ 
dered Dickie Whiteface, one of his little sol¬ 
diers, to sneak inside one of the back yards 
nearby and make just as many snowballs as 
he could make. 

“And just as soon as I give a yell for more 
bullets you bring them to us as fast as you 
can / 7 Captain Bunty told Private Dickie. 
So a minute or two later everything was 
ready and Captain Tommy threw the first 


THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 89 

snowball to warn the Bunnyville Army that 
they were ready to attack the fort. And 
such whooping and yelling you never heard 
in all your life as they came dashing for¬ 
ward. 

“Don’t waste your bullets!” cried Cap¬ 
tain Bunty, as he threw the one in his paw 
so straight and true that it hit Captain 
Tommy right on top of the head. But it 
took more than that to stop a brave little 
bunny boy soldier like Captain Tommy. 

“Give it to them! Give it to them!” he 
yelled at the top of his voice, and to show his 
little band of soldiers how to do it he banged 
Captain Bunty right on the tip of his little 
wibbly wobbly nose. But Captain Bunty 
was every bit as brave as Captain Tommy 
and went on fighting harder than ever. 

Now while these two little bunny boy 


90 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

armies were struggling together who should 
come down the street but Uncle Fluff, the 
nice old bunny gentleman, and Daddy Long- 
ears, the jolly old bunny storekeeper. 

“Well, I declare!” exclaimed Uncle Fluff 
as he pointed across the street, “just look at 
that!” 

“Bless my whiskers!” cried Daddy, 
quickly, “those little kiddies in the fort will 
lose the battle sure as you’re alive!” 

“Not a bit of it they won’t!” yelled Uncle 
Fluff, and, would you believe it, off he ran 
to help Captain Bunty defend the fort. 
Y.es, sir, a big rabbit man like him! 

“Here! Here!” shouted Daddy, “that’s 
not fair!” And what did he do but join 
Captain Tommy’s soldiers and try his best to 
hit Uncle Fluff with a snowball. 

“Oh dear!” gasped Captain Bunty, as he 


THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 


91 


saw that the enemy was getting closer to the 
fort all the time, “if we only had some more 
snowballs.” And that quick he happened to 
think of Dickie. 

“Come on, Dickie!” he yelled as loud as 
he could. Then up dashed the little bunny 
boy with a whole wheelbarrow full of snow¬ 
balls. 

“Now we’ll give it to them!” cried the lit¬ 
tle bunny captain of the Bunnyville Army, 
and my, oh my, how they did make the snow¬ 
ball bullets fly. Why, it was no wonder at 
all that Captain Tommy and his brave sol¬ 
diers had to retreat. 

“It was just ’cause Uncle Fluff helped 
you,” cried one of the defeated little soldiers. 

“It’s no such a thing!” retorted a little 
bunny boy from inside the fort. “Didn’t 
you have Daddy to help^” 


92 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



WITH A WHOLE WHEELBARROW FULL OF SNOWBALLS 






THE CAPTAIN BUNTY STORY 93 

But Captain Bunty knew very well that 
Uncle Fluff had nothing at all to do with 
the winning of the battle. It was all on ac¬ 
count of Private Dickie and his wheelbarrow 
full of snowball bullets. 


And that’s all. 


IX 

THE MOUSE HUNTING STORY 

' XE upon a time there 



was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 


house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 


94 









THE MOUSE HUNTING STORY 


95 


would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Munch! Munch! Munch! came a funny 
little crunchy sound from out of the pantry, 
and Tommy Toddles, the little bunny boy, 
stopped at the door to listen. 

“I wonder what it is"?” he thought to him¬ 
self. 

And then that munchy crunchy noise be¬ 
gan all over again just as though some little 
animal boy was eating peanuts. But, of 



96 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

course, Tommy knew very well that there 
couldn’t be any one in the pantry eating pea¬ 
nuts. 

“Oh, I know what it is,” he exclaimed 
quietly to himself, “it’s a mouse!” 

And, sure enough, when he flung open the 
door and shouted “boo!” into the pantry 
there was a sudden scamper and a startled 
squeal. And when he went inside to look 
he found a cracker lying on the floor full of 
little sharp tooth marks. And not only that, 
but the cracker bag up on the shelf had a big 
hole gnawed in it. 

“What do you think, Mother Toddles!” 
cried Tommy, as he raced into the kitchen, 
“there’s a mouse in the pantry eating up all 
your crackers!” 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Mother Toddles, “if I 
could only get rid of the little scamp.” 


THE MOUSE HUNTING STORY 


97 


“I’ll get rid of him for you!” cried her lit¬ 
tle bunny boy. “Just wait till I get my 

! 5 5 

gun! 

Tommy, you see, had one of those little 
guns that are just the right size for little 
bunny boys to handle. It wasn’t a really 
truly gun like a soldier’s, but it shot little 
wooden bullets and sometimes they went 
straight and sometimes they went crooked. 

Well, anyway, Tommy was soon hiding in 
a dark corner of the hall waiting for sly Mr. 
Mouse to show himself. He had his little 
gun all ready to shoot and not once did he 
take his eyes off the pantry door. 

And all of a sudden he heard the patter of 
tiny feet across the floor and there was Mr. 
Mouse on his way to the sitting-room as bold 
as you please. 

‘Til fix him / 5 gritted Tommy, as he crept 


98 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

quietly along the hall. And when he peeped 
through the crack of the door there was Mr. 
Mouse perched under the table. But, of 
course, that bold little mouse had no idea 
that a little bunny boy was watching him. 

Up went Tommy’s little gun and the next 
instant it went off with a bang! But, my, 
oh, my! instead of hitting Mr. Mouse, the 
little wooden bullet struck a vase and broke 
it all to pieces. 

“Please don’t be cross, Mother Toddles,” 
begged Tommy, as he told his mother what 
had happened. “It was the fault of that 
old mouse!” 

Now Mother Toddles was just as eager to 
get rid of that mouse as Tommy, himself, 
so she didn’t scold him one bit about break¬ 
ing the vase. “Try to be a little more 
careful the next time,” was all she said. 


THE MOUSE HUNTING STORY 


99 



) 


) > 


THERE WAS MR. MOUSE PERCHED UNDER THE TABLE 






IOO THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

It was just a little while after that when 
his little bunny sister, Tiny, came rushing 
downstairs all out of breath, and so excited 
that she could scarcely speak above a whis¬ 
per. 

“Oh, Tommy!” she gasped, “there’s a big 
mouse upstairs under the bed! Oh, dear! 
Oh, dear! I’m so frightened!” 

“I’ll bet that’s the same one who lives in 
the pantry!” cried Tommy. “Just wait till 
I get my gun!” 

And the next moment he was dashing up¬ 
stairs to his little bunny sister’s room. And, 
sure enough, under the bed sat bold Mr. 
Mouse, as saucy as ever. 

Bang! popped the little gun again and out 
of the room slipped the sly little mouse 
through the crack under the door. But that 
little wooden bullet flew straight for the mir- 


THE MOUSE HUNTING STORY 


IOI 


ror on the wall and cracked it. And this 
time when Tommy told Mother Toddles she 
appeared to be just a little bit cross about it. 

“I guess you’d better stop shooting at that 
little mouse,” she told him. ‘Tm afraid 
you’ll break too many things.” 

So Tommy had to stand his little gun in 
the corner back of the door and all the time 
he felt sure that if he could have but one 
more shot at Mr. Mouse he would hit him 
for sure. But, anyway, that bold little 
mouse left his home under Mother Toddles’s 
pantry floor and moved next door. And it 
was all because he didn’t like those little 
wooden bullets whizzing past his ears. So, 
you see, Tommy chased him away with his 
little wooden gun, even though he didn’t hit 
him. 

And that’s all. 


X 


THE BASEBALL STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 


102 














THE BASEBALL STORY 


103 


would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

The two little bunny boys’ baseball teams 
were playing a series of three games and 
whoever won two of them were to be the 
champions of Bunnyway Lane. Bunty 
Cottontail, the one little bunny boy, was 
captain of the Bunny Stars, while his little 
bunny chum, Tommy Toddles, was captain 
of the Bunny Blues. 

Well, anyway, they had played two games 


104 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

of the series and each team had won one 
game. So, of course, the third game would 
have to prove the championship. 

“I just know the Bunny Stars will win,” 
said Molly Cottontail, the little bunny girl, 
to her little playmate, Tiny Toddles. 
“Bunty told me yesterday that they couldn’t 
help but win.” 

‘Indeed they won’t!” declared Tiny. 
“You ought to have heard what Tommy said 
about it.” 

“H’m!” sniffed Molly, “Tommy doesn’t 
know.” 

“Neither does Bunty,” replied Tiny. 

“Yes, he does, too!” flung back Molly in 
anything but a pleasant tone. 

“No, he doesn’t!” snapped Tiny, just as 
crossly. 

“I don’t think you’re a bit nice!” cried 


THE BASEBALL STORY 105 

Molly, “and I’m not going to talk to you.” 
And that little bunny girl flung up her chin 
and walked away. 

So there were those two little bunny girls 
quarreling just because their little bunny 
brothers were captains of the rival teams. 
And any other time they were the greatest 
little playmates you could find. 

The third game of ball was to be played 
that afternoon on the vacant lot back of the 
Cottontails’ home, and long before two 
o’clock all the little bunny children, as well 
as some of the older animal folks, were sit¬ 
ting around on the benches waiting for the 
game to start. 

“Hurrah for the Bunny Stars!” yelled 
some of the little bunny boys as Captain 
Bunty led his team out on the field. 

And a few minutes later when the Bunny 


106 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Blues marched out led by Captain Tommy 
they cheered just as lustily for'them. 

For a number of innings after the game 
started it was hard to tell who was going to 
win, for first one side would get a run, and 
then the other side would tie them up. And 
every time the Bunny Stars got a run little 
Molly would stand up and cheer, while little 
Tiny did the same for the Bunny Blues. 

But by the time the game ended the Bunny 
Stars were two runs away. So, of course, 
Bunty, and his team had won the champion¬ 
ship. 

“Let’s run up the flag,” suggested the lit¬ 
tle bunny captain, who was so delighted that 
he could hardly keep still a moment. 

So the Bunny Stars got out their little 
white flag with the pink star in the center, 
and Molly pulled it to the top of the staff. 


THE BASEBALL STORY 


107 










108 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

And, would you believe it, while every one 
was cheering, Molly happened to look over 
to where Tiny was sitting and caught sight 
of her little bunny playmate cheering as hard 
as any of the others. Yes, sir, actually 
cheering for the Bunny Stars! 

“I wish I hadn’t said what I did, 5 ’ thought 
Mollv, and the next moment she had walked 
over to Tiny and took hold of her paw. 

“Please, Tiny,” she begged, “don’t be 
cross at what I said. I’ll take it all back!” 

And little Tiny smiled and said it didn’t 
matter at all. In fact she was just as glad to 
be friends again as Molly herself. 

So both little bunny girls discovered how 
very foolish it was to quarrel over something 
that was not worth quarreling about. 

And that’s all. 


XI 



THE BIG WOODS STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 


109 












no THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

“Let’s take a walk,” suggested Bunty Cot¬ 
tontail, the little bunny boy, to his little 
bunny brother, Buzzy. 

“All right,” agreed Buzzy, readily; “let’s 
ask Mother Cottontail to make us each a 
sandwich and then we won’t have to get back 
in time for dinner.” 

It was Saturday morning and, of course, 
there was no school that day for the two little 


THE BIG WOODS STORY 


III 


bunny boys. So they hurried off to find 
Mother Cottontail and ask her if they could 
go for a walk. 

“And, please, Mother Cottontail , 55 begged 
Bunty, “please won’t you make us each a 
sandwich so we don’t have to hurry to get 
back.” 

And Mother Cottontail must have told 
them they might go, for a little later they 
started off, each one with a sandwich tucked 
away in his jacket pocket. But instead of 
going down Bunnyway Lane towards the 
road that led to Farmer Frisk’s, they went 
out through the back gate and started across 
the fields. 

Now it would be a hard matter to say just 
how far those two little bunny boys really 
went. They climbed over fences and 
jumped ditches and crawled through patches 


112 


THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



CRAWLED THROUGH PATCHES OF HIGH WEEDS 










THE BIG WOODS STORY 


113 

of high weeds, and trudged on and on until 
they were a long ways from home. 

And, finally, when they came to a fence, 
and had climbed on the top rail to take a rest, 
Bunty happened to think of their sand¬ 
wiches. 

“Let’s eat our lunch,” he said to Buzzy. 
“I’m as hungry as a bear!” 

And Buzzy must have been as hungry as a 
bear, too, for their sandwiches disappeared 
like magic. And after they had hunted up 
the last crumb they started off again towards 
a big woods that they could see just ahead 
of them. 

Now neither Bunty nor Buzzy stopped to 
think how far they were going and it was not 
until they had walked for quite a while 
through the woods that Bunty suggested 
they had better turn around and start for 


114 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

home. So they turned about and went the 
other way. 

But they had only gone a short distance 
before they were all mixed up and couldn’t 
tell one path from another. “Oh, Buzzy!” 
gasped Bunty, suddenly, “maybe we’re 
lost!” 

‘‘Why—why—don’t you know where 
we’re at?” stammered Buzzy. 

“Don’t you?” asked Bunty. 

“I thought you knew,” answered his little 
bunny brother. 

“Let’s climb a tree,” said Bunty, “and 
maybe we can see where we’re at.” 

But even after they had climbed the tall¬ 
est tree they could find and looked about, 
everything seemed strange to them. So they 
both started to shout at the top of their 


voices. 


THE BIG WOODS STORY 


US 



if 


CLIMBED THE TALLEST TREE THEY COULD FIND 










Ii6 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Hello-o-o!” they yelled, and that quick 
back came an answer from two different di¬ 
rections. 

“Oh, listen,” cried Buzzy, with delight, 
“it must be just full of folks around here.” 

And after they had shouted a few more 
times who should come tearing towards them 
but two other little bunny boys. 

“It’s Tommy!” shouted Bunty. 

“It’s Laddie!” yelled Buzzy. 

And before they had a chance to say an¬ 
other word out of the bushes nearby popped 
two more little bunny boys. And up dashed 
Jackie and Dickie. And they knew right 
away that their four little playmates had 
become lost the same as they were. But it 
seemed the funniest thing that they should 
have all taken a walk out to the big woods 
at the same time. 


THE BIG WOODS STORY 


II 7 

But anyway they were very glad to have 
found each other, and one tried to tell the 
other which was the right way home. And 
not one of them was quite sure about it. 

“Maybe you go this way,” said Tommy, 
pointing ahead with his paw. 

“No, it’s that way,” declared Dickie, 
looking in another direction. 

“Oh, are you sure?” exclaimed Bunty. 
“I thought you went the other way.” 

So all they could do was to sit down under 
a big tree and try to be brave little bunny 
boys until someone came along. But they 
had to blink pretty hard at times to keep back 
the tears. 

And while they were sitting there wonder¬ 
ing what their mothers would say when they 
didn’t come home to supper, they heard some¬ 
one coming down the path towards them. 


. 118 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

And who should it be but their old friend, 
Uncle Fluff, who had been out hunting some 
kind of berries to make tea for his rheuma¬ 
tism. 

“Goodness me!” cried the surprised old 
bunny gentleman, as soon as he spied those 
six little bunny boys sitting there in the 
woods, “what’s going on?” 

And the next moment those little lost 
bunny boys were trying to climb all over him 
and laughing and crying at the same time. 
But finally they managed to tell him that 
they were all lost. 

“It’s a lucky thing for you kiddies I came 
along this way,” chuckled the nice old bunny 
uncle as he led the way towards home. 

And that’s all. 


XII 


THE BROKEN CUP STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 










120 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Molly Cottontail, the little bunny girl of 
Mother Cottontail’s, was the greatest little 
animal girl you ever saw to break dishes. 
Hardly a day passed that she didn’t drop 
something or other while she was washing 
them. 

Of course you know little bunny girls 
have very small paws and when they are wet 
and slippery with soapy water it’s little won- 


THE BROKEN CUP STORY 


121 


der that now and then a dish slips out of 
their grasp and breaks. But when it hap¬ 
pens almost every day you can’t blame it on 
the soapy water—because little bunny girls 
who do that must be just a teeny weeny bit 
careless. 

One morning Molly was washing the 
breakfast dishes while Mother Cottontail 
was busy upstairs. And as the little bunny 
girl was always cheerful and happy, whether 
she was working or playing, she sang a little 
song to herself. And this is what she sang: 

“Three little dolls in a little wooden boat 
Went sailing the wide blue sea, 

They sailed far away to the Fairyland Isle 
And then sailed-” 

But that’s as far as Molly got, for just 
then a cup slipped out of her paws and down 
it went ker-smash on the floor. 



122 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Oh, dear / 5 exclaimed the little bunny 
girl, “there goes another cup ! 55 

Now, one nice thing about Molly was that 
she never tried to hide anything from Mother 
Cottontail. So she went upstairs right away 
to tell her. 

“That’s too bad / 5 said Mother Cottontail; 
“you’ll have to be a little more careful . 55 

And, of course, Molly made up her mind 
to be as careful as could be. But just 
as she started to sing another song about 
those three little dollies down went another 
cup. 

This time Molly was not quite so ready to 
go upstairs and tell Mother Cottontail, but 
she went all the same. 

“Why, Molly,” said Mother Cottontail, 
“that’s the second cup in a few minutes! 
What shall I do with you 4 ?” 


THE BROKEN CUP STORY 


123 


“But, Mother Cottontail, it slipped!” de¬ 
clared the little bunny girl. 

“I’m afraid you’re getting careless,” an¬ 
swered Mother Cottontail, “and if it hap¬ 
pens again to-day I’ll have to punish you.” 

Well, Molly didn’t break any more cups 
that morning, but just as she was going up¬ 
stairs to Mother Cottontail in came Bunty, 
her little bunny brother, to get a drink. 
And the first thing he spied was a pitcher of 
milk on the table. 

So he thought he would have a drink of 
nice milk and went to the shelf to get him¬ 
self a cup. And while he was reaching up 
for one he knocked it down and broke it into 
pieces. 

Now I suppose any other time he would 
have stopped and picked up the pieces, and, 
no doubt, told Mother Cottontail what he 


124 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

had done. But this time Laddie Bun, his 
little bunny playmate, was waiting for him 
outside so away he flew without giving the 
broken cup a thought. And when Mother 
Cottontail came downstairs a little later of 
course she couldn’t help but see it. 

“That naughty little bunny girl!” she 
said to herself, “she has broken another 

i ’ ? 

cup: 

And just as she went to the foot of the 
steps to call Molly down in came Bunty. 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail,” he cried, as soon 
as he saw the broken cup lying on the floor, 
“I forgot to tell you. I broke a cup a little 
while ago.” 

“I’m glad to hear it,” said Mother Cotton¬ 
tail, without thinking. 

“Why- -why—” stammered Bunty, in 
surprise, “I thought you wouldn’t like it.” 




THE BROKEN CUP STORY 


125 



SHE COULDN’T HELP BUT SEE IT 








126 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“I meant to say I’m glad it wasn’t Molly,” 
smiled Mother Cottontail. 

And that afternoon she had to go down¬ 
town and buy some new cups or they 
wouldn’t have had enough for supper. 

And that’s all. 


/ 


XIII 

THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 

E upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 



127 









128 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

In the rear of Mother Cottontail’s garden 
was a brick wall, and sometimes her little 
bunny boy, Bunty, would climb to the top 
of the wall to see if any of his little chums 
were playing on the other side. You see, on 
the other side of the wall was the vacant lot 
where the little animal boys played games. 

Well, one day, just as Bunty had climbed 
to the top of the wall, and before he had a 
chance to look around, he made a discovery 


THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 129 

right in front of his little pink wibbly wob¬ 
bly nose. For there in the fork of a tall 
reed that had grown up alongside of the wall 
was a bird’s nest.. And, not only that, but 
the little straw nest had three tiny sky-blue 
eggs in it! 

“Oh, look at the pretty eggs!” he ex¬ 
claimed, as he stood on his tiptoes to peep 
over the edge of the nest. 

Now those three tiny blue eggs belonged 
to Mother Redbreast who, just a little while 
before, had flown off the nest and sailed away 
over the meadow to stretch her wings, while 
Daddy Redbreast was busy in Mother Cot¬ 
tontail’s garden hunting potato bugs. And 
if either one of them would have had any 
idea that a little bunny boy was snooping 
around their nest they would have come fly¬ 
ing home in the biggest kind of a hurry. 



130 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 


OH, LOOK AT THE PRETTY EGGS ! ’ HE EXCLAIMED 


' 






THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 131 

And, no doubt, they would have been still 
more alarmed to have seen Bunty take the 
eggs out of the little nest and tuck them 
carefully away in his jacket pocket. But, 
of course, the little bunny boy intended to 
put them back again as soon as he had shown 
them to some of his little playmates. 

The first one he met, after he had jumped 
down off the wall and raced up through the 
garden to the front gate, was Laddie Bun, 
the little bunny boy who lived next door. 
And it wasn’t hard for Laddie to tell that his 
little bunny chum had something very sur¬ 
prising to tell him by the way his eyes 
sparkled. 

“You can’t guess what I’ve got 4 ?” cried 

Bunty. 

“It’s a new top,” guessed Laddie. 

Bunty shook his head and pulled the three 


132 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

little blue eggs out of his pocket. And that 
quick Laddie’s bright little eyes began to 
sparkle too. 

“Oh, aren’t they pretty!” he cried, the 
same as Bunty had done. 

And do you know before he got through 
he had shown those three little eggs to nearly 
every one of his little playmates. And last 
of all he showed them to Mother Cotton¬ 
tail. 

“Why, Bunty!” she exclaimed in the dis¬ 
appointed tone of voice that her little bunny 
boy never liked to hear, “what made you take 
those eggs out of the nest 1 ?” 

“Why—why—” stammered Bunty, be¬ 
ginning to feel just a little bit ashamed of 
himself, “it won’t matter, will it, if I put 
them right back again?” 

“Indeed it will,” replied Mother Cotton- 



THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 


133 


tail. “Just suppose some one would come 
along and carry you away, how would I 
feel?” 

And while Bunty didn’t know just what 
to say he felt sure that Mother Cottontail 
would feel very badly if some one carried 
him off and she couldn’t find him. 

“Well, don’t you see,” said Mother Cot¬ 
tontail, “poor Mother Redbreast will feel 
the same way about her eggs.” 

“I wonder if she will 4 ?” asked Bunty, with 
surprise. 

“I’m quite sure of it,” answered Mother 
Cottontail. 

“Then I’m going to put them back again 
quick as I can!” declared the little bunny 
boy as he raced out through the door. 

And, let me tell you, it was just about 
time he put those eggs back in the nest, for 


134 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Mother Redbreast was flying wildly about 
and calling loudly to Daddy Redbreast that 
some one had stolen her eggs. And Daddy 
Redbreast came flying home as fast as he 
could come. 

‘Tm glad I put them back / 5 thought 
Bunty to himself, as he watched Mother 
Redbreast settle down on the three little 
blue eggs with a contented flutter. And 
even Daddy Redbreast kept up a happy lit¬ 
tle chirping. 

Now, the next morning, Bunty’s little 
bunny sister, Molly, sat curled up in the big 
arm chair reading a story book. The win¬ 
dow was down from the top and she could 
hear every little sound from the outside. 
And all of a sudden she heard two little 
chirps and a whistle that made her sit up ' 
very straight in the chair to listen. “Tweet! 


THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 


135 


Tweet!” it came again from somewhere near 
the top of the old apple-tree. 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail!” cried Molly, 
eagerly, as she burst into the kitchen, 
“there’s a robin outside in the garden!” 

“I shouldn’t wonder but it’s one of those 
Bunty was telling about,” said Mother Cot¬ 
tontail. “No doubt, if you listen very 
closely, you’ll hear Mother Redbreast an¬ 
swer.” 

“But, Mother Cottontail, where do they 
live?” asked Molly, quickly. 

“They’ve got a little nest down by the 
garden wall,” explained Mother Cottontail. 

“Yes, but, Mother Cottontail,” asked her 
little bunny girl, “don’t they get all wet 
when it rains?” 

“I don’t believe they’d mind one bit,” 
smiled Mother Cottontail. 


136 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

But Molly wasn’t quite so sure of that, 
for she knew how it was with little bunny 
girls like herself. Just as soon as it started 
to rain they wanted to be in the house. And 
little robin redbreasts 4 might feel the same 
way about it. “If they only had a little 
house to live in when it rains they wouldn’t 
get a bit wet,” she thought. 

So she made up her mind that the very 
next time she met Uncle Fluff, the nice old 
bunny uncle, she was going to ask him to 
make her a bird house for the two little robin 
redbreasts to live in. And it happened that 
she met him the very next morning on her 
way to school. 

“Oh, Uncle Fluff!” she exclaimed, “two 
little robin redbreasts have come to live in 
our garden!” 

“Well! Well!” smiled Uncle Fluff, 


THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 


13 7 


“that’s the best news I’ve heard this morn- 

mg! 

“But, Uncle Fluff,” asked Molly, doubt¬ 
fully, “what will they do when it rains 4 ?” 

“I never thought of that,” replied Uncle 
Fluff, scratching his ear and looking quite 
puzzled about it. 

“Why, they’ll get all soaking wet,” de¬ 
clared the little bunny girl. 

“It’s too bad,” sighed the nice old bunny 
uncle, looking real sad about it. 

“Maybe—maybe if they had a house to 
live in they wouldn’t get a bit wet,” sug¬ 
gested Molly, looking up eagerly into Uncle 
Fluff’s face. 

“Why, so they wouldn’t,” laughed Uncle 
Fluff. “Suppose an old cross bunny man 
like me would make you one, what then 4 ?” 
he asked. 


138 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Oh, but you’re not cross!” cried Molly, 
quickly, “you’re too nice for anything!” 

“Then I’ll surely have to make you one,” 
chuckled the bunny uncle. And he told her 
to be sure and come around for it the next 
Saturday morning. So, a few days later, 
when Molly went around for the little house, 
it was all finished and ready to take home. 
It was painted white and had a little yellow 
steeple on top as well as a front door for Mr. 
and Mrs. Robin Redbreast to go in and 
out of. 

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” cried the 
delighted little bunny girl, as she started off 
home with her precious little house. But 
for some reason or other neither one of the 
two little Redbreasts would go near the little 
house. Mother Redbreast seemed to prefer 
her little nest, while Daddy Redbreast eyed 


THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 


139 


it suspiciously from the topmost branch of 
the old apple-tree that grew close to the gar¬ 
den wall. 

“Maybe I could coax them with something 
to eat,” thought Molly. So she hurried into 
the house and brought out a little basket full 
of popcorn. 

But the two little Redbreasts didn’t pay 
any more attention to the popcorn than they 
had to the little house. All they did was to 
keep the three little eggs in the nest warm 
or sing and swing on a branch of the old 
apple-tree. 

The next morning, when Molly got up 
and looked out of the window, she saw a 
wonderful sight down in the yard. For 
there were two little brown birds hopping in 
and out of the little house as busy as could 
be. And they seemed so happy about it that 


14 ° THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



BROUGHT OUT A LITTLE BASKET FULL OF POPCORN 










THE ROBIN REDBREAST STORY 141 

every little bit they would stop and sing. 

Molly could hardly wait until she got 
downstairs to tell Mother Cottontail about 
it. And Mother Cottontail told her right 
away that they were little wrens who had 
gone to housekeeping. 

So for several weeks after that the two 
little wrens lived in the little house as happy 
as could be. But as for Daddv and Mother 
Redbreast they seemed to be just as happy 
where they were. 

And that s all. 


XIV 


THE BABY BUN STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


142 









THE BABY BUN STORY 


143 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Mother Bun, the mother of Baby Bun, was 
a sister rabbit to Mother Cottontail, and, of 
course, that made Molly Cottontail a first 
cousin to Baby Bun. Molly, however, was 
much the older of the two and if you had 
seen them together you would have surely 
thought that she was an aunty or an older 
sister to the littlest Bun instead of a cousin. 

Well, anyway, Molly was very, very fond 
of her little bunny cousin and one day she 


144 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

asked Mother Cottontail whether she might 
go down to Aunty Bun’s and bring Baby up 
with her to spend the day. And Mother 
Cottontail said she didn’t care if Aunty Bun 
wanted to let him come. 

So Molly went down the street to ask 
Aunty Bun, and a little later she came back 
with Baby Bun holding fast to her paw. 
The look of delight on the little bunny’s face 
was enough to make you smile. 

The little Cottontails had a hammock 
swing in the back yard under the apple-tree 
and Baby hadn’t been playing around more 
than a minute or two before he spied it. 
And, of course, he wanted Molly to give him 
a ride. 

So the little bunny girl got into the swing 
and told Baby Bun to climb in beside 
her. But do you know that little bunny 


THE BABY BUN STORY 


145 



THAT LITTLE BUNNY CHAP COULDNT CLIMB IN AT ; ALL 






146 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

chap couldn’t climb in at all. No, sir; he 
wiggled his ears as hard as he could wiggle 
them and his little pink nose went wibble 
wobble so fast that you could scarcely see it 
move, trying to pull himself up. But it 
wasn’t any use at all. Even when Molly 
caught hold of his dress and pulled with all 
her might it just seemed as though he was 
glued fast to the ground. 

“Oh, dear!” gasped Molly, all out of 
breath, “but you’re a heavy little fellow!” 

And then she tugged and pulled all over 
again, but it wasn’t any use at all—she just 
couldn’t budge that little fat baby bunny! 

“I know what I’ll do,” she cried, sud¬ 
denly, as she happened to think of some¬ 
thing, “I’ll go in and get the stool for you to 
stand on.” 

Now while Molly was in the house get- 


THE BABY BUN STORY 


147 


ting the stool who should thrust his head out 
of the window in the side of the woodshed 
but Bunty, her little bunny brother. 

‘‘Hello, Baby Bun!” he cried. “Want to 
play Indian 4 ?” 

And, of course, Baby Bun was just wild 
to play Indian, and when Bunty came out¬ 
side and led him around to the woodshed 
door the little bunny saw three more Indians 
sitting inside. 

There was White Feather, Tommy Tod¬ 
dles, and Red Eagle, Laddie Bun, and 
Smoke-in-the-eye, Dickie Whiteface, while 
Bunty himself was Crooked Horn. 

“Baby chief,” grunted Bunty, as Baby 
Bun came toddling into the woodshed. 

“Baby chief called Little Buffalo,” de¬ 
cided Red Eagle. 

In the meantime Molly had come out with 


148 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

the stool and you can imagine how surprised 
.she was to find that Baby Bun had disap¬ 
peared. 

“Oh, I just wonder where he is!” she fairly 
gasped. “Maybe the rag rabbit took him 
.along !’ 5 

But just then she heard Baby Bun laugh 
and the sound of it came through the wood¬ 
shed window, so she fairly flew around to 
the door. 

And when she caught sight of Baby Bun 
sitting inside with the other four little bunny 
boys she was so surprised she hardly knew 
what to say. 

“Baby Bun little Buffalo Chief,” said 
Bunty. 

“The idea!” sniffed Molly, “he’s too lit¬ 
tle to play Indian! We’re going to play in 
the hammock swing with our dollies.” So 


THE BABY BUN STORY 


149 


she took hold of Little Buffalo’s paw and 
marched him out of the woodshed. 

Now it would be hard to say which Baby 
Bun would have rather done—play Indian 
or sit in the hammock swing with Molly and 
her dollies. But, anyway, he had lots of 
fun playing with Molly until it was time to 
go home. 

The next day, Mother Bun, the bunny 
mother of little Baby Bun, had planned to 
go downtown to do some shopping, so she 
told her little bunny boy that he would have 
to stay at home like a good little kiddie until 
she came back. 

“But, Mother Bun, why can’t I go along 4 ?” 
asked Baby Bun the very first thing. 

“Because I’ll have to walk too fast for a 
little bunny boy like you,” answered Mother 
Bun, “and it will surely be much nicer for 


150 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

you to sit by the front window and watch 
the rabbit folks go by.” 

But Baby Bun didn’t want to sit at the 
front window at all, and he was so disap¬ 
pointed that he could not go along that his 
little pink wibbly wobbly nose almost 
stopped moving. But he knew it wouldn’t 
do any good to pout, so he climbed up into 
the big arm chair by the window and waited 
for Mother Bun to start off. 

“Now don’t go outside while I am away,” 
said Mother Bun just before she left the 
house. 

“I wish Bunty would come along,” 
thought Baby Bun, as he sat at the window 
looking out. And wasn’t it funny that 
just at that very moment who should he 
spy coming down the street but Bunty 
himself! 


THE BABY BUN STORY 


151 



HE SAT AT THE WINDOW LOOKING OUT 















152 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Bunty! Bunty!” he yelled at the top of 
his voice, beating on the window pane with 
both little fists. ‘'Wait till I open the 
door!” And quicker than I can tell you he 
had the door open and was dancing up and 
down before the little bunny boy on the front 
step. And he must have been so excited 
from seeing his little bunny friend that he 
forgot all about what Mother Bun had told 
him. For a minute or two later there he 
was out in the front yard playing tag with 
Bunty. But all of a sudden he happened 
to remember. 

“Oh, Bunty!” he exclaimed, “I guess I’d 
better go in! You come along,” he said to 
the little bunny boy. 

So Bunty took hold of his paw and the two 
of them walked up the path to the front 
door. But, goodness alive, when they went 


THE BABY BUN STORY 


153 


to open it the catch had caught on the inside 
and there they were, locked out. 

“Let’s ring the bell,” suggested Bunty, 
quickly, “and then Mother Bun will let us 


in. 




“She just went away,” said Baby Bun, 
with a frightened look in his little pink eyes. 

“Is the kitchen window unfastened'?” 
asked Bunty. 

“Oh, maybe it is!” cried Baby Bun 
eagerly. “Let’s run around and see.” So 
they dashed around the corner of the house, 
and, sure enough, Mother Bun had forgot¬ 
ten to lock the window. And the next mo¬ 
ment Bunty was boosting the little bunny 
boy up to the window sill. But when Baby 
Bun dropped down on the other side into the 
kitchen he landed into a big bowlful of 
something soft and sticky! And the more 


154 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

he tried to get loose the tighter it stuck. 

“Oh, Bunty!” he fairly shrieked, “please 
get me loose! Im all stuck up!” 

Now it wasn’t very easy for Bunty to 
scramble up to the window sill, but he finally 
managed it after a great deal of pulling and 
kicking, and the first thing he spied when he 
looked into the room was Baby Bun stand¬ 
ing in a big bowlful of dough. You see he 
had dropped down fair and square into the 
bowl of dough that Mother Bun had placed 
on the chair near the stove to rise. 

“Oh, what shall I do?” wailed the little 
bunny boy, wiping the tears out of his eyes 
with two little floury paws. 

And it would be hard to say what he 
would have done if it hadn’t been for Bunty, 
but the little bunny boy managed to get 
most of the dough off of him by the time 


THE BABY BUN STORY 


155 


Mother Bun returned. And even then he 
was a sorry looking little chap. 

“You’re a naughty little bunny boy,” 
Mother Bun told him, looking very cross 
about it. “Do you know what happens to 
little bunny boys who don’t listen?” she 
asked him. 

“They—they fall in the dough,” stam¬ 
mered Baby Bun. 

And while all little bunny boys don’t fall 
in a bowl of dough when they forget to lis¬ 
ten, they almost always meet with some kind 
of trouble. 

And that’s all. 



XV 


THE FIRE STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
^ was a farmhouse that 
||] was painted white with 
yj green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 


house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 
















THE FIRE STORY 


157 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Tommy Toddles, the little bunny boy, 
and his two little bunny playmates, Bunty 
Cottontail and Dickie Whiteface, were all 
sitting together, one day, in the Toddles’s 
woodshed. 

Now these three little bunny chaps were 
discussing what they would like to do when 
they were grown up—just as little boys do 
sometimes. 

“I wish I could run an engine,” said 




158 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Bunty. “My! but that would be fun!” 

“I’d rather fly an airship,” spoke up 
Dickie; “just see how much faster you’d go.” 

“What would you like to do?” asked 
Bunty of Tommy. 

“I’d rather be a fire laddie,” replied his 
little bunny chum, “and rescue folks out of 
burning houses.” 

And before any of them could say another 
word they heard something that made them 
sit up very straight on the little wooden 
bench to listen. 

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong! 
sounded a bell close by. 

“It’s the fire bell!” gasped Tommy. 

“Fire! Fire! Fire!” yelled Dickie, as 
the three of them tried to get through the 
door at the same time. 

And just as they got out on the front pave- 


THE FIRE STORY 


159 


ment along came Uncle Fluff puffing like a 
fire engine himself. 

“Where’s the fire, Uncle Fluff?” asked 
Tommy. 

“Down at Mother Bun’s house,” wheezed 
the bunny uncle, as he went on down the 
street with a hop-skip-and-jump. 

And, sure enough, when the three little 
bunny boys came to where Mother Bun 
lived, they found the smoke coming out of 
the window. 

“Goodness alive!” cried Daddy Longears, 
the bunny storekeeper, dancing first on one 
foot and then on the other, “what in the 
world is keeping those fire laddies!” 

“Come on, fellows,” yelled Tommy to his 
two little chums, “let’s carry out the things!” 

And you ought to have seen the three little 
bunny boys hustle the things out of the 


160 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

rooms downstairs. Why, Tommy, alone, 
lifted a number of things out of the win¬ 
dow into the back yard. 

And just as he had caught up a chair to 
place outside, Mother Bun came bursting 
into the room, wringing her paws. 

“Oh, where’s Baby Bun?” she wailed. 
“I can’t find him anywhere. And just as 
soon as she caught sight of Tommy she 
begged him to help her find her little baby 
bunny. 

“Maybe he’s upstairs,” thought Tommy 
to himself, and away he dashed up the stairs. 
And, would you believe it, in one of the 
rooms, frightened nearly out of his wits, 
crouched little Baby Bun in a corner. 

“Here he is! Here he is!” shouted Bunty 
with joy, as he placed the little bunny chap 
in Mother Bun’s paws. 



THE F!RE STORY 161 


CAUGHT UP A CHAIR TO PLACE OUTSIDE 




162 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Now by this time the fire laddies had ar¬ 
rived and in a very few minutes the fire was 
all put out. And it was not nearly so bad 
as it seemed, as only one room was scorched 
a little. The only one who was injured was 
Uncle Fluff, who had run into a post while 
on his way to the fire. But as soon as Doc¬ 
tor Squeeks had put some liniment on the 
pain all went away. 

“I don’t care for anything at all,” declared 
Mother Bun, happily, ‘except that Baby 
Bun is safe and sound.” 

So it was no wonder that everybody there 
gave three hearty cheers for Tommy for res¬ 
cuing little Baby Bun. 

And that’s all. 


XVI 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and ' 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 







164 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, ‘'Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you ,— 55 But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Just as Bunty Cottontail, the little bunny 
boy, reached the front gate he caught sight of 
the rabbit postman coming down the street. 
Now the rabbit postman was quite a jolly 
chap, and the nicest thing about him was that 
he was a great friend of all the little bunny 
children. 

“Hello, Bunty!” he called, pleasantly, 
“here’s a letter for Mother Cottontail.” 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 165 

“Thank you!” replied the little bunny 
boy, politely, as he took the letter and went 
on up the garden walk with it. 

Before he got quite to the house five other 
little bunnies ran out of the kitchen door 
and fairly pounced on him. They were his 
two little bunny brothers, Buzzy and 
Wuzzy, and his three little bunny sisters, 
Molly, Flopsy and Mopsy. 

“Oh, what have you got*?” asked Buzzy. 

“Did you get a letter 4 ?” sang out Mopsy. 

“It’s a letter! It’s a letter!” cried Molly. 

But Bunty marched on into the house with 
the letter without saying a word. And, of 
course, the other little Cottontails trotted 
along after him. 

By the time Mother Cottontail had put on 
her glasses and broken the seal of the letter 
her six little bunny children were all clus- 


166 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

tered about her knee with their funny 
little noses fairly twinkling with eagerness. 

And then Mother Cottontail read the let¬ 
ter, and while she was reading it her whis¬ 
kers began to quiver and all of a sudden she 
gave a happy little laugh. 

“What do you think 4 ?” she asked her six 
little bunnies. 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail, tell us quick!” 
they all begged her. 

“Your Uncle Rab and Aunty Rab want 
me to bring you up to see them for a few 

days. And they want us to be sure and 

« 

come before Easter. 

“But I guess I’ll have to tell them you 
don’t want to come,” went on Mother Cot¬ 
tontail, pretending to look quite down¬ 
hearted about it. 

The next instant her six little bunny chil- 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


i 6 y 


dren were climbing all over her, each one 
trying to tell her how anxious they were to 
visit Uncle and Aunty Rab. 

So it happened that the next day Mother 
Cottontail dressed her children in their best 
clothes and started off with them to the sta¬ 
tion. And when she got there she bought 
one full fare ticket for herself and six half 
fare tickets for the six little Cottontails. 
And on each ticket was printed that it was 
only good to Bunnyburg Station. But, of 
course, that was just as far as they wanted 
to go, as it was there Uncle and Aunty Rab 
lived. 

When they got off the train at Bunnyburg 
Station there stood a big automobile waiting 
for them, and in no time at all they were 
whisked away to their uncle’s house. 

“Bless my whiskers!” cried hearty old 


168 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Uncle Rab, “it does my pink eyes good to 
see you!” And dear old Aunty Rab hugged 
and kissed them as all nice aunties do. 

Now there was one funny thing about 
Uncle Rab that the six little Cottontails 
couldn’t understand, and that was that he 
seemed so busy all the time. Every little 
bit he would come running into the house, 
and after saying a word or two would run 
out again. 

And what do you think he was doing all 
this time 4 ? Why, hauling eggs! Yes, sir, 
there were wagons and automobiles full of 
eggs coming into the yard all the time, and 
Uncle Rab was busy unloading them and 
hauling them by the wheelbarrow full into 
a large building at the lower end of the 
garden. 

And when Bunty asked Aunty Rab what 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


169 


they wanted with so many eggs, she promised 
to tell them a great big secret if they agreed 
not to tell. And, of course, they all prom¬ 
ised not to say a word to anybody. 

“Uncle Rab is the Easter Rabbit,” sa-id 
Aunty Rab, “the very same one who brings 
the nests of eggs to the little bunny boys and 
girls on Easter morning.” 

“Oh!” went Bunty. 

“Oh-h-h!” squeaked Molly. 

“Oh-h-h-h-h!” gasped the other four. 

And no wonder! Just think of the really 
truly Easter Rabbit being your really truly 
uncle! 

“Was Uncle Rab at our house last 
Easter?” asked Bunty. 

“Indeed he was,” declared Aunty Rab, 
“and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit but what 
he put a few extra eggs in your nests just 


170 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

because you were his little nieces and 
nephews . 55 

“But why didn’t he wake us up , 55 asked 
the little bunny boys, “and say howdy-do to 
us ? 55 

“Oh, dear, no, that wouldn’t do at all , 55 
replied Aunty Rab. “Just think if he had 
stopped to talk with you and then when 
morning came he would have found that 
there was still a number of his little friends 
to visit and he had to leave for home with¬ 
out giving them a single egg. Now 
wouldn’t that be dreadful for such a careful 
old Easter Rabbit as Uncle Rab?” 

“I guess it would,” admitted Bunty. 

“I know what I’m going to do,” declared 
little Molly. “I’m going to stay up the 
night before Easter and wait for Uncle 
Rab . 55 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 1 7 l 

“You’d better not, 5 ’ spoke up Bunty, 

“maybe he won’t come if he sees you peep- 
• 

mg. 

“Yes, indeed,” said Mother Cottontail, 
“you’d better be a little bit careful.” 

Well, anyway, Uncle Rab, the Easter 
Rabbit, was so very busy that he hardly knew 
what to do first. The big brick storehouse 
in the back part of the yard was nearly half 
full of eggs, and every one of them had to 
be hard boiled and dipped into different col¬ 
ored dyes to make them look pretty. 

All morning Uncle Rab had been busy at 
the big kitchen stove boiling eggs. First he 
would place a number of them into the boiler 
of hot water and then turn the little egg 
timer on the wall until the sand had all run 
out of the upper glass into the lower one. 
By this time the eggs were done and he 


172 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



busy at the big kitchen stove boiling eggs 







THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


173 


would dip them out and put them on a dish 
to cool. 

Just as he was lifting one of the eggs out 
of the boiler on a big spoon an excited look¬ 
ing rabbit came rushing into the room to tell 
him that one of the wagons had upset and 
dumped two whole crates of eggs into the 
ditch. 

“Dear me!” cried Uncle Rab, “if they’re 
all broken we’ll never have enough to go 
around. I’ll go see right away!” 

Now Uncle Rab didn’t like to stop boiling 
the eggs, so he looked around to find some¬ 
one to take his place, and the only one there 
just then was Bunty Cottontail, his little 
bunny nephew. 

“How would you like to tend to these 
eggs while I am away, Bunty*?” he asked the 
little bunny boy. And, of course, Bunty 


174 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

was delighted to think that Uncle Rab 
should ask him to help. 

So Uncle Rab hurried away while Bunty 
started in to boil the eggs. And wasn’t it 
funny that the very first one the little bunny 
boy dipped out of the boiling water slipped 
off the spoon and fell on the floor. 

“Why—why—!” gasped Bunty, as he saw 
the egg roll under the stove. “It didn’t 
even break!” 

Sure enough when Bunty picked it up 
there wasn’t a crack in it. 

When Uncle Rab got back Bunty told 
him all about dropping the egg, and 
the Easter Rabbit seemed to be every 
bit as much surprised about it as Bunty 
himself 

“That’s very queer,” he said as he looked 
over the eggs that Bunty had boiled. 




THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


l 75 


“Aha!” he exclaimed, suddenly, “I know 
now why it didn’t break!” 

For there among the hard boiled eggs was 
a china egg such as you put in an old hen’s 
nest to keep her company. And you ought 
to have heard Bunty and the Easter Rabbit 
laugh! The idea of trying to boil a china 
egg any harder than it was! 

But, anyway, they got all the eggs boiled 
that day and piled them up in the warehouse 
ready to be colored. And there were so 
many of them that they reached clear up to 
the roof. 

“Goodness me!” exclaimed the Easter 
Rabbit, as he looked them over, “how in the 
world shall I ever color all those eggs!” 

Aunty Rab was close by when he said it, 
but the dear old bunny aunty never opened 
her mouth. But she had the hardest kind 


176 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

of a time to keep from laughing right out 
loud. Because, you see, every year about 
that time Uncle Rab always complained 
about the work he had to do getting ready 
for Easter. 

“You needn’t smile, Aunty Rab,” said 
Uncle Rab, as he looked across the room at 
the bunny aunty. “Just think what would 
happen if I couldn’t get off in time the night 
before Easter. Why, lots of the little 
bunny boys and girls would get up Easter 
morning and find no nest at all. And then 
what would they think?” demanded Uncle 
Rab. “Pray tell me that?” 

“I shouldn’t wonder if they’d be very 
much disappointed,” replied Aunty Rab. 

“I should say they would!” declared 
Uncle Rab, looking so fierce about it that his 
whiskers trembled. “And not only that, 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


177 


but every one of the disappointed ones 
would say there was no Easter Rabbit!” 

“Wouldn’t that be funny,” laughed Aunty 
Rab, “thinking there was no Easter Rabbit 
when here you are nearly working your head 
off trying to get ready.” 

But Uncle Rab was too busy and excited 
to find anything to laugh about. 

“I’ll have to start right in coloring those 
eggs,” he told Aunty Rab. 

So he went over to a little closet in a 
corner of the room to get the bottles of dif¬ 
ferent colored dyes. 

“Pink, red, yellow, green,” he said to him¬ 
self, as he took out the four bottles and set 
them on the table. 

“Brown, purple, blue,” he went on, “blue 
—blue—” he repeated, as he stopped and 
looked carefully at the row of bottles. 


178 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Where in the world is that bottle of blue 
dye ? 5 

“Can’t you find it ? 5 asked Aunty Rab, as 
she came over to the closet and pulled her 
spectacles down over her nose so that she 
could see better. 

“Why, here it is,” she exclaimed, sud¬ 
denly, as she pointed to one of the bottles, 
“right in front of your nose!” 

“Well! Well!” said Uncle Rab. “I 
surely must be getting old and foolish!” 

A few minutes later he was busy color¬ 
ing the Easter eggs. First he would mix 
some of the dye in a bowl and then dip in 
the hard boiled eggs until they were nicely 
colored. 

Just as he was pouring the blue dye out of 
the bottle into the mixing bowl Bunty Cot¬ 
tontail came into the room. And the little 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


179 


bunny boy showed by his face that he was 
eager to help Uncle Rab dye the eggs. 

“Here, Bunty,” called Uncle Rab, “sup¬ 
pose you stir this dye until I go out and get 
some more eggs.” 

So Bunty stirred the blue dye while Uncle 
Rab went out to the warehouse after more 
eggs to color. And while he was stirring 
away as busy as could be he bumped into the 
row of bottles and knocked several of them 
over. 

And that quick the corks flew out of two of 
them and the red and green dye splashed 
over a pile of eggs alongside of the bowl. 
And it made them look all green and red 
speckly like. 

When Uncle Rab got back Bunty was so 
afraid that he would scold that he hardly 
knew what to say. 


180 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Well, I declare!” cried Uncle Rab, de¬ 
lightedly, before Bunty had a chance to say 
a word, “they’re the prettiest ones I’ve ever 
seen. How did you ever color them like 
that?” 

“You have to sprinkle them with two 
kinds of dye,” explained Bunty. And then 
he told the Easter Rabbit just how it hap¬ 
pened. 

“Isn’t that fine!” declared Uncle Rab 
without getting a bit cross; “we’ll have to 
color a lot more just like them.” 

So he started in to help and it was quite 
surprising how quickly they got through col¬ 
oring the hard boiled eggs. In fact by the 
time supper was ready the big pile of eggs 
out in the warehouse had changed to all the 
colors of the rainbow, and were all ready for 
the little bunny boys and girls when the 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 181 

Easter Rabbit left to make their nests on 
the night before Easter. 

Of course Uncle Rab could never have 
finished so soon if it hadn’t been for Aunty 
Rab and Mother Cottontail and the six little 
Cottontails. Those six little bunny nieces 
and nephews of the Easter Rabbit’s had been 
just as busy as they could be the whole day 
long. 

Now it was the funniest thing that all the 
time Uncle Rab was at work he seemed to be 
just a little bit cross about something. It 
wasn’t because the six little Cottontails 
didn’t work hard enough to please him. 
Oh, dear no! And he wasn’t cross at Aunty 
Rab or Mother Cottontail, either. 

No doubt if you had asked Uncle Rab 
himself what made him cross he wouldn’t 
have been able to tell you. But Aunty Rab 


182 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

could have told you all about it. Yes, in¬ 
deed, she could have told you just why the 
Easter Rabbit was feeling a little bit grumpy 
and out of sorts. 

Bright and early the next morning Aunty 
Rab asked Uncle Rab what they were going 
to do that day and you should have seen that 
funny old Easter Rabbit wave his paws and 
twitch his ears. Why he was so worked up 
about it that he nearly jumped up and down. 
But he didn’t mean it—honest and honest 
he didn’t. He was just the best-hearted 
bunny uncle in the world, because, you see, 
if he hadn’t been he never would have both¬ 
ered to take all those nests of eggs to the 
little bunny children. 

“Great whiskers!” he cried, as soon as 
Aunty Rab asked him. “You want to know 
what there is to do and I’m so busy that my 



THE EASTER VISIT STORY 183 

head swims! How about the candy eggs 
and putting the names on? And there’s the 
little jelly eggs! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” 
sighed the Easter Rabbit, “if I only get 
things done in time!” 

“But what shall we do first?” asked Aunty 
Rab. 

“First of all we’ll make the candy eggs,” 
replied Uncle Rab. “You and Mother 
Cottontail can mix the candy and I’ll make 
the eggs.” 

So, a few minutes later, everybody was 
busy making the candy eggs, and as soon as 
Uncle Rab would get one ready Bunty 
would dip it either into a dish of choc¬ 
olate for a chocolate egg or into a dish of 
another kind of icing to make a cream 
egg- 

Each little egg, you know, had a string 


184 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 




EVERYBODY WAS BUSY MAKING THE CANDY EGGS 









THE EASTER VISIT STORY 185 

through the middle of it, so as soon as it was 
dipped Bunty would hang it up on a little 
line that Uncle Rab had fastened across the 
end of the table. And there it stayed until 
the icing was hard and dry. 

Bunty tried to be very careful not to drop 
any of the eggs, but every little while one 
of the strings would slip out of his paws and 
down it would go! And after it hit the 
table it looked more like a lollipop than an 
Easter egg. 

Every time he dropped an egg Bunty ex¬ 
pected Uncle Rab to say something. But 
his bunny uncle never said a word. He just 
went on making those candy eggs harder 
than ever. 

Bunty’s little sister, Mopsy, was busy cut¬ 
ting the little strings that Uncle Rab put in 
the eggs to hang them up by. Just how it 


186 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

happened it would be hard to say, but, any¬ 
way, when Uncle Rab came to use the 
strings he found that nearly every one of 
them was cut too short. 

“Oh, Uncle Rab!” Mopsy almost sobbed, 
“please don’t be cross!” 

“It doesn’t matter one bit,” declared 
Uncle Rab, smiling down at the little bunny 
girl. 

And when he saw the two big tears in 
Mopsy’s pink eyes he stooped down and 
kissed her little furry cheek. 

“There, honey,” he said, “don’t you worry 
one bit.” So, you see, the Easter Rabbit 
couldn’t have been such a cross old rabbit 
man after all. 

Uncle Rab, the Easter Rabbit, was up 
bright and early the next day after they had 
made the candy eggs, and the very first thing 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 187 

he did when he came downstairs was to look 
at the calendar. 

“One, two, three, four/’ he counted to 
himself, as he looked at the numbers. 
“Well, I declare!” he exclaimed, ‘ only four 
more days to Easter.” 

Before he sat down to breakfast Aunty 
Rab asked him how many cups of carrot tea 
he wanted. The Easter Rabbit was very 
fond of carrot tea, and he nearly always 
drank two cups. So every morning Aunty 
Rab would ask how much he would drink. 

But this morning Uncle Rab was so busy 
thinking about the number of days to East¬ 
er that when Aunty Rab asked him about the 
tea he said “Four!” 

“My goodness!” cried Aunty Rab, “you 
never drank four cups of tea before in all 
your life!” 


188 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Tea!” repeated Uncle Rab. “Who said 
anything about tea? I ? m talking about how 
many days to Easter.” 

“Well, well!” laughed Aunty Rab. 

As soon as breakfast was finished Uncle 
Rab got ready to make the name eggs. 
These are the eggs, you know, with your 
name written on top with icing. And you 
ought to have seen the long list of names 
that Uncle Rab had to put on Easter eggs. 
It started with several little bunny girls by 
the name of Anna and ran clear through the 
alphabet to Zacharias. 

So the first egg Uncle Rab started to deco¬ 
rate was for Anna Blue Eyes, a little bunny 
girl. First of all he placed the egg on a 
little table in front of him and then started 
to write Anna with a little paper funnel 
filled with icing. The little paper funnel, 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 189 

you know, had a tiny hole at the bottom, and 
the icing came out just like ink out of a 
fountain pen. 

Uncle Rab was just writing the last letter 
when Molly Cottontail, the little bunny 
girl, came into the room. 

“Oh, isn’t that pretty!” she cried, as soon 
as she caught sight of the egg on the table. 
“Who is it for, Uncle Rab?” she asked. 

“For a little bunny girl by the name of 
Anna Blue Eyes,” replied the Easter Rab¬ 
bit. “Do you know a little bunny girl by 
that name?” he asked. 

“Indeed I do,” declared Molly; “she’s just 
the—” 

Now Molly was going to say that little 
Anna was too mean for anything and that 
she didn’t like her one bit. And it was all 
because she and little Anna had had a quar- 


190 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



UNCLE RAB WAS JUST WRITING THE LAST LETTER 






THE EASTER VISIT STORY 191 

rel one day in the schoolyard during recess. 

But she thought it best not to tell Uncle 
Rab about it, as he might think it was not 
altogether Anna’s fault. 

A little while later Uncle Rab went into 
another room to get some more eggs, and 
while he was gone Molly took a knife and 
cut a piece out of Anna’s egg, just like you’d 
plug a watermelon. And then what do you 
think she did? Why, she scooped out the 
whole inside of the egg so that it was noth¬ 
ing but a shell. And the last thing of all 
she stuffed it full of paper and put the little 
plug back into place so that no one could 
have ever told what she had done until they 
started to eat the egg. 

“There!” declared the little bunny girl, 
“it will just serve her right for being so 
mean!” 


192 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

When Uncle Rab came back he told 
Molly that he had been hunting for a nice 
pink egg to give to another little bunny 
girl whose name was Anna, too. But he 
couldn’t find one to suit him. 

“She’s a poor little crippled bunny girl,’’ 
explained Uncle Rab, “and can never run 
about and play like the other bunny chil¬ 
dren. So I wanted to give her something 
nice.” 

Just then he glanced at the egg for the 
other little Anna, the very one that Molly 
had scooped the center out of. 

“Ah!” he exclaimed, “the very thing! 
I’ll give this one to poor little Anna Small, 
the crippled bunny girl, and give the other 
Anna another one.” 

The next moment Molly had flung her lit¬ 
tle paws around Uncle Rab’s neck and was 


THE EASTER VISIT STORY 


193 


sobbing as though her little heart would 
break. 

“Oh, Uncle Rab,” she begged, “please 
don’t give it to poor little Anna who’s all 
crippled. Please—please don’t!” 

“Bless my whiskers!” cried Uncle Rab, 
who was so surprised that he hardly knew 
what to say. 

And then, of course, Molly told him what 
she had done. Uncle Rab didn’t scold her 
one bit, but the little bunny girl could see 
by his face that he was sorry that she had 
acted as she did. 

“I’ll never do it again,” she promised him, 
and then and there made up her mind never 
to be so spiteful to anyone after that. 

When Saturday came, which, of course, 
was the day before Easter, the six little Cot¬ 
tontails got up bright and early, for this was 



194 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

the day that Mother Cottontail was going to 
take them home. And all of them felt like 
crying, they were that sorry. 

“Can’t we stay just another day 4 ?” begged 
Bunty. 

“Well, I guess not,” replied Mother Cot¬ 
tontail. “Suppose there was no one at home 
when Uncle Rab came to-night with the 
nests and that all the windows were locked 
and he couldn’t get in. How would you 
feel next morning?” 

“We could give him the front door key,” 
said the little bunny boy, “and then he could 
get in as easy as anything.” 

“Oh, that wouldn’t do at all,” declared 
Mother Cottontail. “The Easter Rabbit 
always crawls through a window and always 
will.” 

Well, that afternoon the little Cottontails 


THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


195 


said good-by to Uncle Rab and Aunty Rab 
and took the train at Bunnyburg Station 
for home. And all the way there they talked 
about nothing else but Uncle Rab and how 
wonderful it seemed that he was the really 
truly Easter Rabbit. 

All that afternoon Uncle Rab had been 
busy loading the eggs on his big automobile. 
And such a lot of eggs you never saw in all 
your life. 

As soon as he had eaten his supper he 
kissed Aunty Rab good-by and went out to 
crank up the automobile. And at the first 
turn it started to roar and shake as though 
it was eager to be off. The next moment it 
was gliding smoothly down the driveway 
past the house. 

“Happy Easter, Uncle Rab!” shouted 
Aunty Rab from the porch. 


196 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Happy Easter, Aunty Rab!” answered 
the Easter Rabbit, 

Faster and faster went the automobile, 
while away off in the distance the little 
bunny boys and girls were telling their 
mothers to be very very careful to leave one 
of the window catches open so that the Eas¬ 
ter Rabbit would have no trouble in getting 
inside. 

And that’s all. 


XVII 


THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


CE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 



was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 


house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


197 










198 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Aunty Rab, the dear old bunny aunty of 
the six little Cottontails, sat all by herself 
in the sitting-room knitting something out of 
a ball of yarn after Uncle Rab, the Easter 
Rabbit, had started away with his load of 
eggs to visit the little bunny boys and girls. 
Every little while she would smile to herself 
and then the two shiny needles in her paws 
would go faster than ever. 

“Won’t they be happy when they get 



THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


199 


awake to-morrow and find what the Easter 
Rabbit has brought them,” she said, softly, 
to herself. “I just wish I were to be a little 
bunny girl myself to-morrow.” 

Mother Cottontail and the six little Cot¬ 
tontails had arrived home safely from their 
Uncle Rab’s and ever since then they had 
talked about nothing else but the Easter 
Rabbit and what he might bring them. 

“I hope he brings me a big chocolate egg,” 
said Bunty. 

“I’d rather have a candy rabbit,” spoke up 
Mopsy. 

“I wouldn’t,” declared Flopsy; “I wish 
he’d bring me a pink egg with my name on.” 

“And lots of jelly eggs with little speckly 
spots on them,” added Molly. 

When evening came the Easter Rabbit 
was speeding on and on in his fleet little 


200 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

' automobile toward the houses of the little 
bunny folk. The moon was shining brightly 
overhead, and if Uncle Rab would have had 
time to look he would have seen that the man 
in the moon was smiling down at him. But 
who wouldn’t smile at the Easter Rabbit? 
You and I would, wouldn’t-we? 

“I don't believe those folks have gone to 
bed yet,” thought Uncle Rab as he saw a 
light ahead of him shining out of a window. 
And wasn’t it funny that just then the light 
popped out and everything was dark. 

So he stopped the automobile in front of 
the little house and after filling a basket with 
eggs he crept softly towards the window 
from which the light had been shining a 
moment before. 

“Well, I declare!” he said to himself, as 
he noticed the window raised a tiny crack 


THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


201 


from the bottom, “they’ve all gone to bed 
and even left the window raised a little for 
me to get in.” 

But just then he heard some one whisper¬ 
ing, and it came from right inside the win¬ 
dow where everything was as dark as the 
inside of a black hat. 

“Gracious me!” thought Uncle Rab, 
“some one must surely be awake!” So he 
got right up close to the window to listen. 

“I don’t believe there is any Easter Rab¬ 
bit,” said a voice. 

“Why don’t you?” asked another little 
voice. 

“ ’Cause I never saw him,” answered the 
first little bunny boy. 

Now Uncle Rab was in an awful big 
hurry and he was wishing with all his heart 
that those two little bunny boys were sound 


202 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

asleep in bed instead of whispering together 
in the dark. 

So what did he do but raise the window 
and crawl into the room. Yes, sir, right into 
the very room where those two little bunny 
boys were watching for him. 

“Oh-h-h-h!” they both went, just like that. 

“It’s the Easter Rabbit! It’s the Easter 
Rabbit!” whispered one of them. “See, 
there’s his basket of eggs on his paw!” 

But Uncle Rab never said a word, as he 
was too busy to talk. But all the time he 
was filling the two little nests in the corner 
he kept smiling to himself to think that one 
of those bunny boys had said he didn’t be¬ 
lieve there was an Easter Rabbit. 

As soon as he was finished he started to 
crawl out through the window again and as 
he hopped into the automobile he caught 


THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


203 


sight of the two little bunny boys standing 
at the open window watching him. 

“Good-by, Easter Rabbit!” shouted one 
of them, the very same one who said a little 
while before that he did not believe there 
was an Easter Rabbit. 

“Good-by, little bunny boys!” waved 
Uncle Rab, as he started away for the next 
little house. 

4 

From one little house to the other hurried 
the Easter Rabbit with his automobile load 
of eggs. And, of course, every place he 
stopped where there were bunny children he 
left an Easter nest or maybe several of them. 

“My, oh, my!” he exclaimed, as he looked 
at his watch, “it’s almost twelve o’clock and 
goodness knows how many places I’ve got to 
visit before morning.” 

So he turned a little wheel in the front 


/ 


204 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

of his automobile to make it go faster. Now 
I shouldn’t wonder but what turning that 
little wheel made the automobile take two 
swallows of gasolene every time the wheels 
went around instead of only one. Anyway, 
the Easter Rabbit fairly flew. 

When he came to the next little brick 
house and hopped out of his automobile to 
crawl through the window he found it se¬ 
curely fastened inside with a catch. And 
that quick he knew that some one had been 
very, very careless. Just to think of having 
several little bunny children in the house 
who can hardly wait until the Easter Rabbit 
comes and then have their mother or aunty 
or some one like that go around and lock 
every one of the windows. Of course, may¬ 
be they didn’t mean to do it, but the win¬ 
dows were all locked just the same, and how 


THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


205 



HE FOUND IT SECURELY FASTENED INSIDE 








206 the SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

in the world can you expect the Easter Rab¬ 
bit to get inside with everything securely 
fastened? 

But Uncle Rab didn’t seem to mind a bit. 
He pulled his knife out of his pocket, and 
before you could say Jack Robinson he had 
slipped the blade up between the sash and 
pushed back the catch. 

“Aha!” he chuckled, as he crawled over 
the sill, “they couldn’t keep me out if they 
wanted to.” 

Now there were two little bunny boys 
and their two little bunny sisters lived there, 
so Uncle Rab made four little nests—one in 
each corner. 

“There,” he said to himself, as he climbed 
out again, “I shouldn’t wonder but what 
they’ll be very, very happy.” 

In a little while the Easter Rabbit came 


THE EASTER RABBIT STORY 


207 


to another little house, and this time he 
seemed to know where he was. 

“Well, well!” he exclaimed, “here’s the 
home of the six little Cottontails! 
Wouldn’t they be surprised to know I’m 
here!” 

And, sure enough, it was where Mother 
Cottontail and her family of little bunnies 
lived. And no doubt you remember that 
Uncle Rab, the Easter Rabbit, was a really 
truly uncle to the six little Cottontails. 

And you can well imagine that all the win¬ 
dows weren’t locked in that house. No, in¬ 
deed! Before they went to bed those six 
little bunnies were very careful to see that 
one of the catches was open so that the Eas¬ 
ter Rabbit could get inside. 

As Uncle Rab was fixing the nests—one 
in each corner and two under the table—he 


208 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

smiled to himself and pulled six little slips 
of paper out of his pocket. And before he 
filled each little nest with the kind of Easter 
eggs that little bunny boys and girls like 
the best he put a slip of paper in the bottom 
of each one. 

Easter morning bright and early the six 
little Cottontails rushed downstairs to see 
what the Easter Rabbit had brought them. 
And for a little while there was so many 
“Ah’s” and “Oh’s” that Mother Cottontail 
couldn’t hear herself talk. 

But the biggest surprise of all was when 
each little bunny found at the bottom of 
his nest a little slip of paper that read: 

“With love from Uncle Rab.” 

And that’s all. 


XVIII 


THE WIGWAM STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


209 







210 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

The teacher of the little bunny scholars 
in the Bunnyville school read them a story 
one day about a strange people called In¬ 
dians who dwelt in a faraway land, and how, 
instead of living in houses like the bunny 
folks themselves, they lived in little bark 
tents called wigwams. 

Now do you know that for the rest of the 
afternoon, Laddie Bun, the little bunny boy, 
could think of nothing else but those strange 


THE WIGWAM STORY 


211 


people called Indians and how they lived in 
their little bark tents. And would you be¬ 
lieve it before school let out he was wish¬ 
ing to himself that he was a little Indian 
boy and could live in a wigwam. 

On his way home from school he met Un¬ 
cle Fluff and the first thing he asked the jolly 

old bunny uncle was whether he would like 

/ 

to be an Indian. Now, of course, Uncle 
Fluff had read all about Indians, but just 
for a little joke he pretended not to know a 
thing about them. 

‘Indian? Indian?” he repeated, scratch¬ 
ing his ear in a puzzled kind of way. “Oh, 
yes!” he exclaimed suddenly. “I know 
now! They’re one of those funny kinds 
of birds you see around here now and 
then.” 

And that made Laddie laugh, and he 


212 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

laughed and laughed. To think that Uncle 
Fluff thought an Indian was a bird. 

“Well, what are you laughing at?” asked 
the bunny uncle, looking very much sur¬ 
prised. 

“Why, don’t you know,” answered Lad¬ 
die, “an Indian is someone who lives in a 
faraway land and has a wigwam for a 
house?” 

“Well, well!” chuckled Uncle Fluff, “it’s 
no wonder you had to laugh. The idea 
of me thinking such a foolish thing as 
that!” 

“Could you make a wigwam, Uncle 
Fluff?” asked the little bunny boy. 

“It’s the easiest thing in the world,” de¬ 
clared Uncle Fluff. “Why, I shouldn’t 
wonder but what a little chap like you could 
make one yourself.” 


THE WIGWAM STORY 


213 


“Oh, do you think I could!” exclaimed 
Laddie eagerly. 

“Yes, indeed,” insisted the bunny uncle; 
“all you need is a bundle of straw and—” 

“Yes, but Uncle Fluff,” interrupted Lad¬ 
die, “the Indians make theirs out of bark.” 

“Straw’s just as good as bark for little 
bunny boys’ wigwams,” declared Uncle 
Fluff. “You see, it’s quite different with 
Indians for they have to live in theirs even 
when it rains, but a little bunny boy, you 
know, can run into the house.” 

“First of all,” he explained, “you get a 
big bundle of straw and tie the ends to¬ 
gether at the top. Then you spread it apart 
at the bottom and stand it on the ground. 
And as soon as you make a little opening in 
front for a door you’ll find there’s a little 
place inside to sit.” 


214 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



A LITTLE OPENING IN FRONT FOR A DOOR 



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jjf Pi 1 


■Jr a i 

*A 

9 t | 

'' W f ; 

fm tmS 



WS f W i 






WM MM 










THE WIGWAM STORY 


215 


“Oh, thank you!” cried Laddie with de¬ 
light. “I’ll make one just as soon as I get 
home.” 

And do you know he ran all the way down 
the street he was in such a hurry to start 
making that little wigwam. You see, 
Mother Bun had plenty of straw in the 
chicken-house for nests, so there was no trou¬ 
ble in getting that. And it was quite sur¬ 
prising what a fine little wigwam he made. 

Shortly after the little straw tent was fin¬ 
ished and Laddie had crawled inside he 
heard Mother Bun calling. And he felt 
sure that she wanted him to do some¬ 
thing. 

So he sat there just as quiet as a little 
mouse, thinking that if she didn’t find out 
where he was she might ask one of the others 
to do it instead. 


216 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

A few minutes later she called again and 
for the second time Laddie scarcely moved 
in his little wigwam. And the third time it 
was the same way. 

The next thing he knew he heard some 
one coming down the walk towards him and 
he wondered whether it was Mother Bun 
trying to find him. And, sure enough, it 
was. 

“Laddie!” she called to him outside the 
door of the little wigwam, “why didn’t you 
come when I called you?” 

“Big Indian brave!” grunted Laddie, 
“live in wigwam.” 

But, goodness me, what a surprised little 
Indian there was just then, for all of a sud¬ 
den Mother Bun toppled over the little straw 
tent and caught Laddie by the collar of his 
jacket. 


THE WIGWAM STORY 


21J 


“Big Indian brave go get a bucket of wa¬ 
ter,” said Mother Bun. 

And let me tell you, that little make-be¬ 
lieve Indian boy started for the pump just 
as fast as his little legs could take him. 

And that’s all. 


XIX 

THE PEDDLER STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 

218 











THE PEDDLER STORY 


219 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,— 55 But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Rap-a-tap! Rap-a-tap! sounded a knock 
on the back door, and Molly Cottontail, the 
little bunny girl, ran to look out of the win¬ 
dow to see who it was. 

She was all alone in the house, as Mother 
Cottontail had gone away visiting. And 
you know the little bunny folks are more or 
less timid. 

“Maybe it’s an old tramp bunny,” 
thought Molly, “and Mother Cottontail told 


220 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



a 


yy 


A POOR OLD BUNNY PEDDLER 







THE PEDDLER STORY 


221 


me not to open the door if one came around.” 

But when she looked out of the window 
she found it wasn’t an old tramp bunny at 
all, but a poor old bunny peddler, who had 
a heavy pack on his back and walked with 
a stick. 

So she went to the door and opened it 
and the old bunny peddler had such a nice 
face and looked so pleasantly at her that she 
didn’t feel a bit afraid. 

“Is your mother at home?” he asked po¬ 
litely. 

* 

“She’s just gone out,” replied Molly. 

“I would have liked to show her my 
things,” said the bunny peddler, “and, be¬ 
sides, I thought I could rest a little while.” 

“If you wish,” said the little bunny girl, 
shyly, “you may come inside and sit in the 


kitchen.” 


222 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Thank you ever so much,” said the bunny 
peddler, as he took off his pack and hobbled 
into the kitchen. 

“Maybe he’s hungry,” thought Molly, and 
would you believe it, she went down into 
the cellar and brought up a whole lemon 
tart and a plateful of doughnuts. 

And I shouldn’t wonder at all but what 
the bunny peddler thought them the best 
things he had eaten for many a day, for when 
he was through every crumb had disap¬ 
peared. 

“Now I’ll show you my things,” he told 
her, as he opened his pack and spread them 
out on the floor. There were pins and 
needles and rings and little toy watches and 
combs and brushes and all the other things 
that peddlers carry around with them to sell. 

But nothing pleased Molly more than a 


THE PEDDLER STORY 


223 


necklace of gold beads. And no doubt the 
bunny peddler saw how her little pink eyes 
sparkled as she looked them over. 

/ 

“I’d just love to buy these / 5 she told him, 
“but I haven’t even a penny.” 

Well, anyway, the old bunny peddler 
soon strapped up his pack again and started 
off and the last thing Molly saw of him he 
was hobbling down the garden path. 

That evening at the supper table Molly 
told Mother Cottontail all about the ped¬ 
dler and how she had given him something 
to eat. And wasn’t it funny that just as 
Molly was telling her, Mother Cottontail 
should lift up the lid of the sugar bowl and 
find something inside. 

“Well, I declare!” she exclaimed, as she 
held up something yellow and sparkling, 
“what’s this 4 ?” 


224 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail!’ cried Molly, 
“it’s the little gold necklace that the peddler 
had!” 

And, sure enough, so it was, with a little 
piece of paper fastened to it on which was 
written: 

“To a kind little bunny girl, from an old 
bunny peddler.” 

And as Molly fastened the little necklace 
around her fluffy little neck, her eyes fairly 
danced with delight. But Mother Cotton¬ 
tail told Molly that in the future it would 
be the wise thing not to let a stranger, even 
though he “smiled pleasantly,” in the house 
when the little bunny girl was all alone, for 
the next visitor might not be such a nice 
old animal man as the bunny peddler was. 

And that’s all. 


XX 


THE QUARREL STORY 

E upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 



225 








226 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Now it wasn’t very often that the little 
bunny boys of Bunnyway Lane quarreled 
among themselves, but sometimes one of 
them would do something that another didn’t 
like, and then for a day or two they wouldn’t 
speak to each other. But it never lasted 
very long and after it was all over they 
were just as good playmates as ever. 

It was that way with Tommy Toddles and 
his little bunny chum, Bunty Cottontail. 


THE QUARREL STORY 


227 


It seemed that Tommy had dropped his big, 
blue pencil in the school-yard one day at 
recess, and when Bunty picked one up that 
looked just like it, Tommy felt sure that it 
was the very same one he had lost. But 
'Bunty was just as sure that it belonged to 
his little bunny sister, for Molly’s blue pen¬ 
cil had had a scratch on it and the pencil he 
had found was marked in the same way. 

‘It’s mine!” declared Tommy. 

“It’s no such a thing!” flung back Bunty; 
“it belongs to my sister Molly!” 

Well, anyway, Bunty wouldn’t give the 
pencil up and it made Tommy so angry that 
he wouldn’t even talk to his little bunny 
playmate after that. And when the other 
little bunny boys started to play games at 
recess time, neither one would play for fear 
the other would play too. 


228 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

When school let out that afternoon Bunty 
stayed a little later than the others to help 
the teacher clean off the blackboard. And 
on his way home, just as he was passing the 
high brick wall in front of Mrs. Richbun’s 
garden, he caught sight of something written 
on the wall that made him stop and stare 
he was so surprised. For there on the wall 
in big white letters it said: “Bunty is the 
teacher’s pet.” 

“I’d just like to know who did that!” 
gritted the little bunny boy fiercely, as he 
doubled up both little paws into two hard 
little fists; “I’d show him!” And then, all 
of a sudden, it popped into his head who had 
done it. 

“It was Tommy, sure as anything,” he 
thought to himself; “he’s cross just because 
I said it was Molly’s pencil.” 


THE QUARREL STORY 


229 



CAUGHT SIGHT OF SOMETHING WRITTEN ON THE WALL 






230 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Now the next morning when Tommy 
passed by Mrs. Richbun’s on his way to 
school he was every bit as much surprised 
to see what was written on the wall as Bunty 
had been. Only this time it was different, 
as the first word had been rubbed out and 
another put in its place. And now it read: 
“Tommy is the teacher’s pet.” 

“It was that mean Bunty Cottontail,” 
thought Tommy quickly; “he’s cross just 
’cause I wanted my pencil.” 

But when Bunty came home from school 
the names had been changed again and once 
more he read that he was the teacher’s pet. 
But instead of rubbing it off, he marched 
past with his head in the air, just as though 
he didn’t care at all. 

The next morning at recess while he was 
standing near a group of his little playmates 


THE QUARREL STORY 


23 1 


he heard them giggle among themselves as 
they kept looking at him in a funny kind of 
a way. And, of course, he wondered what 
they were laughing at. 

“Ho, Bunty,” sang out Jackie Whiteface 
suddenly, “did you see what was written on 
Mrs. Richbun’s wall*?” 

“We played a joke on you!” shouted Lad¬ 
die Bun. 

“There were five of us,” explained little 
Timmy Brighteyes, “and each one of us 
wrote a word.” 

“Was Tommy Toddles there 4 ?” asked 
Bunty quickly. 

“He went home another way,” answered 
Jackie. 

Nor was that the worst of it, for that very 
morning Bunty found another blue pencil 
in the school-yard. And that, too, had a 


232 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

scratch on it, so that the first pencil could 
have belonged to Tommy just as he had said. 

As soon as school was dismissed Bunty 
came running up to Tommy and shoved the 
blue pencil into his paw. ‘Tm sorry I kept 
the first one, 5 ’ he whispered to his little play¬ 
mate. 

And Tommy seemed very glad to have his 
little chum talk to him again and all the way 
home they were the same happy little play¬ 
mates as before. And they both made up 
their minds that it wasn’t any fun at all for 
two little bunny boys to quarrel. 

And as for those five little bunny boys 
who thought it such a joke to write on Mrs. 
Richbun’s front wall they soon found out 
that it wasn’t quite so funny after all, for 
Mr. Wobble, the cross old rabbit gardener, 
had had his eye on them all the time, and 


THE QUARREL STORY 


233 


what did he do but make them take a bucket 
of water and a brush and clean every chalk 
mark off the wall. 

And that’s all. 


XXI 

THE CAKE STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


234 








THE CAKE STORY 


235 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Molly Cottontail, the little bunny girl, 

/ 

was standing in front of the kitchen table 
with a big yellow bowl before her and 
wrinkling up her little nose trying to think 
just how to mix up a pound cake. And that 
same little wrinkly crinkly nose had a little 
dab of white on it where she had touched it 
with her floury paw. 

“Mother Cottontail, how many eggs do 
you use 4 ?” she asked. 


236 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“I think eight will be plenty,” replied 
Mother Cottontail. 

“And how much butter?” she wanted to 
know a little later. 

So Mother Cottontail told her how much 
butter was needed and all the other things 
that go into a pound cake. 

“I just love to bake a cake,” thought 
Molly, as she beat up the sugar and eggs 
with a big wooden spoon. 

Now perhaps you’ve been wondering by 
this time why Molly was making the cake 
instead of Mother Cottontail. Well, you 
see, it was this way. Molly had invited a 
number of her little playmates to come 
around the next day and she thought it 
would be very nice to give them a slice of 
cake and a glass of milk before they went 
home. So she had coaxed her mother to let 


THE CAKE STORY 


237 


her bake a big pound cake all by herself. 

"You haven’t got much time,” said 
Mother Cottontail, as she glanced up at the 
clock, "so you’ll have to hurry.” For that 
was the afternoon that Molly had to take 
her music lesson. 

And that’s just what caused all the trou¬ 
ble—the little bunny girl hurried a bit too 
fast. Every now and then she would take 
a peep in the oven to see how her cake was 
baking and as soon as it was brown enough 
on top she took it out; but goodness me, just 
as she was about to set it on the table she 
stumbled and dropped the whole thing on 
the floor. And, my, oh, my, such a looking 

cake! 

"Oh, Mother Cottontail!” cried poor 

Molly, looking ready to cry. 

And when Mother Cottontail told her that 



238 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 





THE CAKE STORY 


239 


she wouldn't have time to mix up another 
cake the big tears did roll down her cheeks. 

“It's too bad,' said Mother Cottontail, as 
she patted the little fluffy head. “But don’t 
cry," she smiled, “sometimes things turn out 
better than you think." 

So Molly went upstairs to put on another 
dress, and a little later she was on her way 
to Professor Piper’s house where she took 
her music lessons. But despite all she 
could do the tears would come to her eyes. 

The first one she met was Miss Prim, the 
bunny lady, who was just returning home 
from the store. 

“Why, Molly!" she exclaimed, “what 
makes you cry?" 

And, of course, Molly told her all about 
the cake. 

“There! There!’’ said Miss Prim; “don’t 


240 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

you cry any more. Maybe the fairies will 
fix things up better than you think . 55 

And a little further on Molly ran into 
Uncle Fluff, the nice old bunny gentle¬ 
man. 

“Well, I declare ! 55 cried the jolly old rab¬ 
bit uncle, “if it isn’t my little friend Molly 
with tears in her eyes . 55 

And after the little bunny girl had told 
him about the cake he told her to cheer up 
and not to worry one bit. 

“Who knows but what the good little 
elves will fix things up ? 55 he chuckled. 

And wasn’t it funny that just a few min¬ 
utes after that Uncle Fluff went into the 
baker bunny’s shop just as Miss Prim was 
coming out. And neither knew that the 
other had bought the same thing—a big 
pound cake covered with vanilla frosting. 



THE CAKE STORY 


241 


Now Molly had hardly left the house on 
her way to Professor Piper’s before Mother 
Cottontail made up her mind to bake her 
little bunny girl another cake. So she got 
out the big yellow bowl again and just as 
she was mixing up the different things the 
door opened and in walked her little bunny 
boy, Bunty. 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail,” he cried, “what 
are you going to make?” 

But Mother Cottontail pretended not to 
hear him and made the big spoon go so fast 
that the yellow mixture got all frothy on 
top just as when you make soap bubbles. 

“Is it going to be an angel cake, Mother 
Cottontail?” persisted Bunty. 

“Dear me!” said Mother Cottontail, 
“what a lot of questions one little bunny boy 
can ask.” 


242 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“But, Mother Cottontail,” coaxed Bunty, 
“please won’t you tell me.” 

“Well,” replied Mother Cottontail, with 
a twinkle, “if little bunny boy snoopy must 
know, it’s going to be a pound cake.” 

“Will it only weigh a pound?” asked this 
snoopy little bunny boy. “That’s not very 
much for all us bunnies,” he added. 

But Mother Cottontail didn’t tell him 
that the cake was for his little sister, Molly, 
and her playmates, so that all the time he 
stood by the kitchen table watching her he 
kept thinking to himself how good a piece of 
that cake would taste for supper. 

Well, anyway, the cake baked just beau¬ 
tifully and Mother Cottontail was very 
proud of it. And after it had cooled she 
put a thick coating of vanilla frosting on 
top. 


THE CAKE STORY 


243 


“Um-m-m! but it looks good!” exclaimed 
Bunty, with a little gurgle of delight. 

It wasn’t very long after that when 
Mother Cottontail had to go down the street 
to buy something at the store, and, of course, 
that left Bunty at home all by himself. And 
do you know she had hardly left the house 
before her little bunny boy began to think 
of that big pound cake in the pantry. And 
while he was wondering to himself how big 
a slice of it Mother Cottontail would let 
them have for supper there came a knock 
on the door, and when he went to see 
who it was there stood an old rabbit ped¬ 
dler. 

“Please, little bunny boy,” he wheezed, 
“can’t you give an old rabbit man a bite to 
eat?” 

“Mother Cottontail isn’t here,” answered 


244 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Bunty, “and I wouldn’t know what to give 
you.” 

And just then he happened to think of the 
pound cake. 

“Oh, I know what I’ll give you,” he ex¬ 
claimed, “I’ll give you a piece of cake!” 

He brought the cake out of the pantry and 
cut a big slice out of it for the old rabbit 
peddler. And I wouldn’t wonder at all but 
what that old hungry rabbit thought it the 
best cake he had ever eaten. 

Now, instead of putting the cake back 
again after the rabbit peddler had gone, 
Bunty let it stand on the table. And the 
more he looked at it the more he wanted a 
piece. 

“I’ll just take a little taste,” he said to 
himself. 

But you know how little folks are some- 


THE CAKE STORY 


245 


times. The first taste leads to a bigger taste 
and almost before he knew it the cake was 
over half gone. 

When Mother Cottontail returned she dis¬ 
covered right away that some one had been 
at the cake by the crumbs lying on the table. 
And it wasn’t hard to guess who it had been. 

“Bunty, what made you cut the cake?” 
she asked her little bunny boy. 

“I—I—gave a piece to an old hungry rab¬ 
bit peddler,” he stammered. 

“How big a piece?” she asked him. 

And, of course, Bunty measured off with 
his paw just how big a piece he gave to the 
old rabbit man. 

“I see,” said Mother Cottontail. “And 
I suppose another rabbit peddler came along 
and ate the rest.” 

“No’m,” admitted Bunty, scarcely louder 




246 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

than a whisper, “I ate a little piece, too.” 

“Suppose you were a little bunny girl and 
had invited several of your little playmates 
to come around to your house to play,” said 
Mother Cottontail, “and you had planned 
to give them all a piece of cake. And sup¬ 
pose your naughty little bunny brother had 
given some of it away and ate a big piece of 
it himself?” 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail!” cried Bunty 
quickly, looking as sorry as any little bunny 
boy could look, “was it for Molly? Hon¬ 
est, was it for Molly?” There was no one 
at all Bunty liked better than his kind- 
hearted little bunny sister. 

“It was for Molly and her little play¬ 
mates,” answered Mother Cottontail. 

Just then the front door bell rang and 
when Mother Cottontail opened the door the 


THE CAKE STORY 247 

bunny baker’s boy handed in two big pack¬ 
ages. And the first one she opened was a 
big yellow pound cake all covered with 
vanilla frosting. And right on top of it was 
a little note that read: “To Molly, from 
the fairies!” 

And, would you believe it, the second 
package had another big pound cake in it 
with another little note on the top of it. 
And that little note read: “To Molly, from 
the good little elves!” 

So, you see, Molly had plenty of cake to 
offer her little playmates when they came 
around to play the next day. And as 1 for 
Bunty, when supper time came he didn’t 
want anything to eat at all. In fact he was 
a very sick little bunny boy and had such a 
terrible headache that Mother Cottontail 
tied a hot water cloth around his ears. And 


248 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



TIED A HOT WATER CLOTH AROUND HIS EARS 







THE CAKE STORY 


249 


not only that but he had to take a spoonful 
of medicine every hour—the bitterest kind, 
you know, made especially for little bunny 
boys who eat too much cake. 

And that’s all. 




XXII 



THE SNOWMAN STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 
would search for the little bunny boys and 


250 













THE SNOWMAN STORY 


25 1 


girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

Several of the little bunny boys were 
walking down Bunnyway Lane on their way 
home from school one day, and as little ani¬ 
mal boys do sometimes, they were talking 
about how nice some folks could be and how 
disagreeable others were. As for the dis¬ 
agreeable folk they all seemed to think that 
Mr. Wobble, the old rabbit gardener of Mrs. 
Richbun’s, was the crossest, most disagree¬ 
able of them all. 


252 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

“I wish he were like Uncle Fluff,” said 
Bunty Cottontail; “you never catch him 
grumbling every time he looks at you!” 

“Well, I guess not!” declared Tommy 
Toddles; “you could climb all over Uncle 
Fluff’s fence and he’d never say a word.” 

“I’ll bet he’d even let you climb his pear- 
tree if he had one,” spoke up Dickie White- 
face, the third little bunny boy. 

“I’d like to see you try it with old Mr. 
Wobble,” said Bunty. 

“Whee-e-e—wouldn’t he be cross!” whis¬ 
tled Tommy. 

“He’d bite your head off,” added Dickie. 

Now by this time the three little bunny 
boys had reached the high brick wall in front 
of Mrs. Richbun’s garden, and just then 
Bunty happened to glance up. And that 
quick he darted ahead as fast as he could go. 


THE SNOWMAN STORY 


253 


“What’s he running for?” asked Tommy. 

And just then Dickie looked up and dis¬ 
covered the same thing that Bunty had seen. 

“Oh, look!” he cried to Tommy, " there’s 
a little snowman on top of Mrs. Richbun’s 
wall.” 

Sure enough, there sat a little snowman, 
as nice as you please. And who in the world 
would ever think of seeing a snowman where 
a cross old rabbit gardener lived? 

“Some one must have put it there,” said 
Bunty. 

“Maybe they were trying to play a joke on 
old Mr. Wobble,” suggested Tommy. 

Now it happened that the old rabbit gar¬ 
dener was back of the wall all the time the 
three little bunny boys were talking and 
heard every word they said. And before he 
could stop it he gave a little chuckle. 


254 the SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 



THERE SAT A LITTLE SNOWMAN ” 





THE SNOWMAN STORYj 


^55 


“What’s that?” asked Bunty quickly. 

“Somebody laughed,” ventured Tommy. 

“Let’s crawl up on the wall and look,” 
said Dickie. 

So the three of them scrambled up 
to the top of the wall and peeped over. 
And, my, oh, my, what do you think they 
saw? 

Why, there was old Mr. Wobble—that 
cross, grumbly, growly, disagreeable rabbit 
gardener—rolling a big snowball across 
Mrs. Richbun’s front lawn. Yes, sir, just 
as you and I would do if we were going to 
build a whopping big snowman. 

“Hello, boys!” called Mr. Wobble, in a 
cheery tone. “How would you like to come 
down and help?” 

“Honest, do you mean it?” fairly gasped 
Bunty, who couldn’t understand why Mr. 



256 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

Wobble hadn’t chased them away as soon as 
he saw them. 

“Just you boys jump down here and see,” 
chuckled the rabbit gardener. And so they 
did—Bunty and his two playmates jumped 
down off the wall and helped old Mr. Wob¬ 
ble roll the big balls of snow for a snow¬ 
man. And after that they made his arms 
and legs. 

“There!” said Mr. Wobble proudly. 
“Isn’t he as fine a snow gentleman as ever 
you saw ?” 

“He’s a dandy!” cried the three little 
bunny boys in one breath. 

“That’s what I think,” declared Mr. Wob¬ 
ble, “and I feel sure that when Mrs. Rich- 
bun’s two little bunny nieces come to visit 
her to-morrow they’ll think so too.” 

So that explained it all. The rabbit gar- 


THE SNOWMAN STORY 


257 


dener had made the big snowman to surprise 
the two little bunny girls who were coming 
the next day to visit Mrs. Richbun. And 
he had put the little snowman on the wall so 
that when the little bunny boys passed by 
on their way home from school they would 
see it and come in to help him. 

The next morning the snow was just right 
to build another big snowman so Bunty and 
his little chum, Tommy, started in right 
after breakfast to build—not one—but three 
of them. Only this time they rolled the big 
balls of snow in Tommy’s back yard, 
i The first big snowman they built was very 
tall and dignified and didn’t look a bit pleas¬ 
ant, while the next one they built was fat 
and roly poly, with a smile that even old 
Mr. Sun would have had trouble in taking 
And the third one wasn’t a snow- 


away. 



258 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

man at all but a snow lady, and she must 
have been a sister to the snowmen for one 
side of her face was smiling while the other 
side looked very cross. You see, Bunty had 
made one side of her face and turned the 
corner of her mouth down while Tommy 
thought she would look much nicer with the 
corner of her mouth turned up. And there 
she stood frowning or smiling, according to 
which way you looked at her. 

“I wonder where the snow people go to 
after they melt?” Bunty asked his little 
bunny playmate. 

“I wonder, too,” answered Tommy; 
“maybe they just melt into the ground and 
stay there.” 

“Just think, if they would get alive,” sug¬ 
gested the little bunny chap, as he looked a 
little fearfully at the snowman in front 


THE SNOWMAN STORY 


259 


of him—the one who wouldn’t smile. 
“Wouldn’t you be afraid?’ he asked. 

“Huh!” sniffed Bunty. “An old snow¬ 
man couldn’t hurt you!” 

“Yes, but they might if they were alive,” 
insisted Tommy. But Bunty felt quite sure 
that he wouldn’t be afraid of the biggest, 
crossest looking old snowman that was ever 
made. 

That afternoon Bunty had nothing to do 
so he started off for a walk and went down 
Bunnyway Lane toward the little road that 
led to the big woods back of Farmer Frisk’s 
place. When he came to the big rocks in 
the woods he spent quite a long time crawl¬ 
ing in and out among them. It had started 
to snow just as he left home, but, of course, 
that made it all the more jolly. 

All of a sudden Bunty caught sight of a 


260 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

little opening between two of the rocks that 
looked just like the door to a little cave, and 
as he went a little closer to look he heard 
someone talking. 

"This is Mr. Snowman,” came a gruff 
voice from out of the hole in the rocks. 

"This is Mrs. Snowman,” spoke up an¬ 
other voice, almost as gruff. 

"This is Little Boy Snowman,” added the * 
third little voice that wasn’t gruff at all. 

"What have you to say?” said Mr. Snow¬ 
man to Mrs. Snowman. 

"What have you to say?” answered Mrs. 
Snowman. 

"What have you to say?” they both asked 
Little Boy Snowman. 

"I say let’s pay them back,” declared Mr. 
Snowman. 

"I say let’s catch them in our cold, cold 


THE SNOWMAN STORY 


261 








202 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

arms and squeeze them tight,” said Mrs. 
Snowman. 

“I say let’s cover them all over with 
snow,” added Little Boy Snowman. 

“Ho! Ho!” roared Mr. Snowman, “those 
little bunny boys will never let us stand in 
the hot sun to thaw after this.” 

“Ha! Ha!” laughed Mrs. Snowman, 
“we’ll teach them better manners.” 

“He! He!” giggled Little Boy Snow¬ 
man, “they’ll all be afraid of us.” 

“Goodness!” thought Bunty to himself, 
as his two little ears stood straight up in the 
air he was so excited, ^there are real live 
snow people in there and they’re planning 
what they’re going to do to us bunny boys. 

“I—I guess I’d better not stay around,” 
he decided. Of course Bunty was only a 
little chap and snowmen are awfully big 


THE SNOWMAN STORY 


263 


sometimes. So he started off towards home. 

Just as he reached the Toddles’s front gate 

he spied Tommy in the back yard looking at 

the two snowmen and snow lady they had 

built that morning. And as he went racing 

down the walk toward his little bunny chum 

* 

he saw the cross looking snowman give a 
funny kind of wabble. 

“Tommy! Tommy!” he fairly screamed 
to his little bunny playmate. “Look out! 
He’s going to squeeze you!” And do you 
know if he hadn’t pulled Tommy back just 
in time the snowman would have fallen right 
on top of the little bunny boy. As it was, 
the two outstretched arms of snow lay right 
at their feet. 

“My, but Fm glad he didn’t catch you!” 
cried Bunty. And then he told Tommy 
what he had heard down in the woods. 


264 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

And, by the time he got through, Tommy’s 
eyes were as big and shiny as marbles. 
“Just think if you hadn’t pulled me away,” 
he declared with a little shiver. “I bet I’ll 
keep my eye on them after this,” he added. 

Now there was one thing that Bunty knew 
nothing about and that was that he had no 
sooner left the little cave in the rocks when 
three fuzzy wuzzy heads were stuck out of 
the hole and out tumbled three little bears. 
There was Big Brother Bear and Brother 
Bear and Baby Bear—the three little bears 
who lived in the big woods with nice Mother 
Bear. 

“Let’s hurry home and tell Mother Bear 
what fun we’ve been having,” said Big 
Brother Bear. 

“We’ll tell her all about our playing 
make-believe,’ ” declared Brother Bear. 



THE SNOWMAN STORY 


265 


“Won’t she be surprised,” laughed Baby 
Bear, “when she finds out that we’ve been 
playing Mr. and Mrs. Snowman and their 
little snow boy?” 

And that’s all. 


XXIII 

THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a farmhouse that 
was painted white with 
green blinds, and it 
stood not far from the 
road, and in the farm¬ 
house lived Uncle John and Aunt Deborah 
and their two little boys, little Charles and 
little John. And often in the long winter 
evenings when the wind blew, Uncle John 
would tell the two little boys stories of 
Bunnyville, where the bunnies, big and lit¬ 
tle, lived in their little brick houses. And 
sometimes little Charles and little John 

266 


1 









THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT STORY 267 

would search for the little bunny boys and 
girls of Bunnyville, but no matter where 
they looked they never were able to find 
them. When they asked Uncle John if the 
bunny boys and girls were really and truly 
anywhere, Uncle John would laugh and pat 
their heads and say, “Now listen to me and 
the wind and we’ll tell you,—” But then 
he’d only tell this story. . . . 

/ 

Bunty Cottontail, the little bunny boy, 
had gone into the front room to look out of 
the window, just a little while before that, 
and while he was standing there watching 
for one of his little animal chums to come 
along so that he could run out and play, he 
heard Mother Cottontail come into the sit¬ 
ting-room. And as soon as he heard her he 
kept as quiet as a mouse for he remembered 


268 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

very distinctly that only a few days before 

she had told him to keep out of the front 

* 

room as it was too cold. In fact there was 
no heat there at all and two heavy curtains 
had been stretched across the doorway be¬ 
tween the rooms. But at first Bunty didn’t 
seem to mind the cold, and he felt sure that 
Mother Cottontail would soon go back to the 
kitchen again and he would have a chance to 
sneak back into the sitting-room. 

Before Mother Cottontail had been in the 
sitting-room more than a few minutes, how¬ 
ever, there came a knock on the kitchen door 
and who should come walking in but Mother 
Bun, the bunny mother who lived in the lit¬ 
tle brick house next door. And, of course, 
she went right through into the sitting-room 
where Mother Cottontail was sitting cozy 
and comfortable by the nice warm stove. 


THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT STORY 269 

And by this time that little bunny boy on the 
other side of the curtains was beginning to 
wish that he, too, was a little closer to the 
stove, as the tips of his paws were beginning 
to ache from the cold. 

“Oh, Mother Cottontail!” cried the bunny 
mother the very first thing. “I’ve just run 
over for a little bit to see you about that 
birthday present. What do you think 
would be nice for a little bunny boy like 
him?” 

And, goodness me, Bunty became so ex¬ 
cited that he almost gave himself away be¬ 
hind the curtain. And no wonder, for here 
was Mother Bun talking about a birthday 
present for a little bunny boy and his own 
birthday was only two days off! 

“I’ve been thinking about getting him 
something nice, too,” answered Mother Cot- 


270 the SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

ton tail, “and I’ve about decided to buy him a 
pair of skates. 5 ’ 

“Won’t that be nice,” smiled Mother 
Bun. “I half believe I’ll get him a lit¬ 
tle red sweater so that when he goes skat¬ 
ing with his new skates he’ll keep nice and 
warm.” 

“Oh-h-h-h!” fairly gasped that eager little 
bunny kiddie behind the curtains, “a pair 
of skates and a new red sweater—just what 
I wanted!” and if either Mother Bun or 
Mother Cottontail had been looking at the 
curtains just then they might have thought 
they had started to dance a little jig. 

But that was all Bunty could learn about 
the birthday presents for Mother Cottontail 
started to tell Mother Bun about the deli¬ 
cious dinner they had had for Christmas, 
while the bunny mother next door told about 



THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT STORY 2JI 


the nice new muffler she was knitting for 
Uncle Fluff. 

In fact they talked so long about this, that, 
and the other thing that Bunty was shiver¬ 
ing from the cold by the time Mother Bun 
left for home. And as soon as Mother Cot¬ 
tontail went out into the kitchen he stuck 
his head out through the curtains to see if 
there was any one else about. But it hap¬ 
pened that all his little bunny brothers and 
sisters were out playing. 

The next morning, when Bunty started off 
to school, he had hardly gotten out of the 
yard before Laddie Bun, the little bunny 
boy who lived next door, came running to 
meet him so out of breath that he could 
hardly speak. 

“Oh, Bunty, what do you think!” he 
burst out; “to-day’s my birthday and I got 


2J2 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

two of the dandiest presents you ever saw!” 

“What did you get?” asked Bunty 
quickly. 

“Why, a pair of skates and a new red 
sweater!” declared Laddie gleefully. 

And that quick Bunty knew that Mother 
Cottontail and Mother Bun had not been 
talking about his birthday at all. It had 
been all about the presents for his little 
chum, Laddie. But, anyway, he tried very 
hard not to let Laddie see how disappointed 
he was. 

The next day Bunty received a nice 
woollen cap from Mother Bun for a birth¬ 
day present while Mother Cottontail gave 
him a little toy airship that sailed way up 
in the air every time you wound it up. And 
just as he was winding up the airship to see 
how it worked in walked his little bunny 


THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT STORY 


273 





274 THE SANDMAN: HIS BUNNY STORIES 

brother, Buzzy, with a big box of ice-cream 
for his birthday. 

But, somehow or other, none of his pres¬ 
ents seemed quite as nice as the pair of shiny 
skates and the little red sweater that Laddie 
had received for his birthday. And, no 
doubt, he would not have been near as much 
disappointed if he had not stopped to listen 
behind the curtains that day to what Mother 
Cottontail and Mother Bun were saying. 

And that’s all of this book. 


Selections from 
The Page Company’s 
Books for Young People 


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Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 

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A TEXAS BLUE BONNET 

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By Caroline E. Jacobs and Edyth Ellerbeck Read. 
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A—1 




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By Louise M. Breitenbach 
Each large 12mo t cloth decorative , illustrated , per 
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ALMA AT HADLEY HALL 

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in girls’ books.” — Boston Herald. 

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Incident abounds in all of Miss Breitenbach’s stories 
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FRIENDLY TERRACE SERIES 

' By Harriet Lummis Smith 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative , illustrated, 
per volume .$1.50 

THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE 

u A book sure to please girl readers, for the author seems 
to understand perfectly the girl character.” — Boston 
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PEGGY RAYMOND’S VACATION 

“ It is a wholesome, hearty story .”—Utica Observer, 

PEGGY RAYMOND’S SCHOOL DAYS 

The book is delightfully written, and contains lots of exciting 
incidents, 

A—3 







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FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES 

By Charles H. L. Johnston 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume .$1.50 

FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS 

“ More of such books should be written, books that 
acquaint young readers with historical personages in a 
pleasant, informal way.” — New York Sun. 

“ It is a book that will stir the heart of every boy and 
will prove interesting as well to the adults.” — Lawrence 
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FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS 

“ Mr. Johnston has done faithful work in this volume, 
and his relation of battles, sieges and struggles of these 
famous Indians with the whites for the possession of 
America is a worthy addition to United States History.” 
— New York Marine Journal. 

FAMOUS SCOUTS 

“ It is the kind of a book that will have a great fascina¬ 
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OF AMERICA 

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A —4 




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HILDEGARDE - MARGARET SERIES 

By Laura E. Richards 
Eleven Volumes 

The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with 
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of books for girls ever written. 

Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated , 

'per volume ....... $1.35 

The eleven volumes boxed as a set . . . $14.85 

LIST OF TITLES 

QUEEN HILDEGARDE 

HILDEGARDE’S HOLIDAY 
HILDEGARDE’S HOME 
HILDEGARDE’S NEIGHBORS 
HILDEGARDE’S HARVEST 
THREE MARGARETS 
MARGARET MONTFORT 
PEGGY 
RITA 

FERNLEY HOUSE 

THE MERRYWEATHERS 

A—£ 




THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES 

By Laura E. Richards 

Each one volume, 12mo, cloth decorative, illus¬ 
trated, 'per volume 60 cents 

CAPTAIN JANUARY 

A charming idyl of New England coast life, whose 
success has been very remarkable. 

SAME. Illustrated Holiday Edition . . $1.35 

MELODY: The Story of a Child. 

MARIE 

A companion to “Melody” and “Captain January.” 

ROSIN THE BEAU 

A sequel to “ Melody ” and “ Marie.” 

SNOW-WHITE; Or, The House in the Wood. 

JIM OF HELLAS; Or, In Durance Vile, and a 
companion story, Bethesda Pool. 

NARCISSA 

And a companion story, In Verona, being two delight¬ 
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“SOME SAY” 

And a companion story. Neighbors in Cyrus. 

NAUTILUS 

“‘Nautilus’ is by far the best product of the author’s 
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This interesting story is written in the author’s usual 
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DELIGHTFUL BOOKS FOR LITTLE 

FOLKS 

By Laura E. Richards 

THREE MINUTE STORIES 

Cloth decorative, 12mo, with eight plates in full color 
and many text illustrations . . . . $1.35 

“ Little ones will understand and delight in the stories 
and poems.”— Indianapolis News. 

FIVE MINUTE STORIES 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.35 

A charming collection of short stories and clever poems 
for children. 

MORE FIVE MINUTE STORIES 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.35 

A noteworthy collection of short stories and poems 
for children, which will prove as popular with mothers 
as with boys and girls. 

FIVE MICE IN A MOUSE TRAP 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.35 

The story of their lives and other wonderful things 
related by the Man in the Moon, done in the vernacular 
from the lunacular form by Laura E. Richards. 

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Trade - ■■ 1 - ■■■ Mark 
Edited by Florence Orville. 

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stories in verse and prose.” — Montreal Herald and Star. 
A—7 





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RAILROAD SERIES 

By Burton E. Stevenson 
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STORIES BY 
BREWER CORCORAN 

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Published with the approval of “ The Boy Scouts of 
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The story of a bright young factory worker who can¬ 
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up the munitions factory. 

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Days at St. Jo’s. 

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A—8 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS 

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By Annie Fellows Johnston 
Each large 12mo , doth , illustrated , per volume . $1.50 

THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES 

(Trade Mark) 

Being three “ Little Colonel ” stories in the Cosy Corner 
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THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HERO 

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THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING- 

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SCHOOL 

THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA 

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VACATION 

THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR 

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THE LITTLE COLONEL’S KNIGHT COMES 

(Trade Mark) 

RIDING 

THE LITTLE COLONELS CHUM, MARY 

WARE (Trade Mark) 

MARY WARE IN TEXAS 
MARY WARE’S PROMISED LAND 

These twelve volumes, boxed as a set, $18.00. 

A—9 




THE FA HE COMPANY'S 


SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITIONS 

Each small quarto, cloth decorative, per volume . $1.35 

New plates, handsomely illustrated with eight full-page 
drawings in color, and many marginal sketches. 

THE LITTLE COLONEL 

(Trade Mark) 

TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 
THE GIANT SCISSORS 
BIG BROTHER 

THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES 

Each small 16mo, cloth decorative, with frontispiece 

and decorative text borders , per volume $0.60 

IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: The Legend 

of Camelback Mountain. 

THE THREE WEAVERS: A Fairy Tale for 
Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their 
Daughters. 

KEEPING TRYST: A Tale of King Arthur’s 
Time. 

THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART 
THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: 

A Fairy Play for Old and Young. 

THE JESTER’S SWORD 


THE LITTLE COLONEL’S GOOD TIMES 
BOOK 

Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series . $1.50 

Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold . 3.00 

Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg. 

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A—10 





BOOKS FOB YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COLONEL DOLL BOOK — 
First Series 

Quarto, boards, printed in colors . . . $1.50 

A series of “ Little Colonel ” dolls. Each has several 
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for the rehearsal of any scene or incident in the series. 

THE LITTLE COLONEL DOLL BOOK— 
Second Series 

Quarto, boards, printed in colors . . . SI.50 

An artistic series of paper dolls, including not only 
lovable Mary Ware, the Little Colonel’s chum, but many 
another of the much loved characters which appear in 
the last three volumes of the famous “ Little Colonel 
Series.” 

ASA HOLMES 

By Annie Fellows Johnston. 

With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery. 

16mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . . $1.00 

111 Asa Holmes ’ is the most delightful, most sympa¬ 
thetic and wholesome book that has been published in a 
long while.” — Boston Times. 

TRAVELERS FIVE: ALONG LIFE’S HIGH¬ 
WAY 

By Annie Fellows Johnston. 

With an introduction by Bliss Carman, and a frontis¬ 
piece by E. H. Garrett. 

12mo, cloth decorative.$1.25 

“ Mrs. Johnston broadens her reputation with this book 
so rich in the significance of common things.” — Boston 
Advertiser. 

JOEL: A BOY OF GALILEE 

By Annie Fellows Johnston. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ The book is a very clever handling of the greatest 
event in the history of the world.” — Rochester, N. Y., 
Herald. 

A —11 





THE PAGE COMPANY’S, 


THE BOYS’ STORY OF THE ARMY 

SERIES 

By Florence Kimball Russel 

BORN TO THE BLUE 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ The story deserves warm commendation and genuine 
popularity.”— Army and Navy Register. 

IN WEST POINT GRAY 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ One of the best books that deals with West Point.”—■ 
New York Sun. 

FROM CHEVRONS TO SHOULDER- 
* STRAPS 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ The life of a cadet at West Point is portrayed very 
realistically.”— The Hartford Post, Hartford, Conn. 

DOCTOR’S LITTLE GIRL SERIES 

By Marion Ames Taggart 

Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume , $1.50 

THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE GIRL 

“ A charming story of the ups and downs of the life 
of a dear little maid.”— The Churchman. 

SWEET NANCY: The Further Adventures of 
the Doctor’s Little Girl. 

“ Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence 
cannot but be elevating.”— New York Sun. 

NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE PARTNER 

“ The jtory is sweet and fascinating, such as many 
girls of wholesome tastes will enjoy.”— Springfield Union. 

NANCY PORTER’S OPPORTUNITY 

“ Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young 
woman, with plenty of pluck.”— Boston Globe. 

NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS 

“ The story is refreshing.”— New York Sun. 

A —12 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


WORKS OF EVALEEN STEIN 

THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by Adelaide 

Everhart. $125 

This story happened many hundreds of years ago in 
the quaint Flemish city of Bruges and concerns a little 
girl named Karen, who worked at lace-making with her 
aged grandmother. 

GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and 
decorated in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . $1.25 

“No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the 
elements that stir the hearts of children and grown-ups as 
well as do the stories so admirably told by this author.” 

— Louisville Daily Courier. 

A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by Diantha 

H. Marlowe.$1.25 

“ The story should be one of the influences in the life 
of every child to whom good stories can be made to 
appeal.” — Public Ledger. 

THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by John Goss $1.25 
“ This touching and pleasing story is told with a wealth 
of interest coupled with enlivening descriptions of the 
country where its scenes are laid and of the people thereof.” 

— Wilmington Every Evening. 


THE HOUSE ON THE HILL 

By Margaret R. Piper, author of “ Sylvia Arden,” 
“ Sylvia of the Hill Top,” “ Sylvia Arden Decides,” etc. 
12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy young 
folks, good times, natural development, and a gentle 
earnestness of general tone.” — The Christian Register, 
Boston. 

A—13 






THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


HISTORICAL BOOKS 

THE BOYS OF ’6i J Or, Four Years of Fighting. 
By Charles Carleton Coffin. 

Extra Illustrated Edition. An entirely new edition, 
cloth decorative, 8vo, with nearly two hundred illus¬ 
trations ........ $2.00 

Regular Edition. Cloth decorative, 12mo, with eight 
illustrations ....... $1.35 

A record of personal observation with the Army and 
Navy, from the Battle of Bull Run to the fall of Rich¬ 
mond. 

THE BOYS OF 1812; And Other Naval Heroes. 
By James Russell Soley. 

Cloth, 8vo, illustrated $2.00 

“ The book is full of stirring incidents and adven¬ 
tures.”— Boston Herald. 

THE SAILOR BOYS OF ’6i 

By James Russell Soley. 

Cloth, 8vo, illustrated $2.00 

“ It is written with an enthusiasm that never allows 
the interest to slacken.”— The Call, Newark, N. J. 

BOYS OF FORT SCHUYLER 

By James Otis. 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.25 
“ It is unquestionably one of the best historical Indian 
stories ever written.”— Boston Herald. 

FAMOUS WAR STORIES 

By Charles Carleton Coffin 
Each cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, 'per vol., $1.25 

WINNING HIS WAY 

A story of a young soldier in the Civil War. 

MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BAT¬ 
TLEFIELD 

A story of the Battle of Bull Run and other battles in 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and on the Mississippi. 

FOLLOWING THE FLAG 

A story of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War. 

A—14 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE SANDMAN SERIES 

Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume .$1.50 

By William J. Hopkixs 

THE SANDMAN: His Farm Stories. 

“ Mothers and fathers and kind elder sisters who take 
the little ones to bed and rack their brains for stories 
will find this book a treasure.” — Cleveland Leader. 

THE SANDMAN: More Farm Stories. 

“ Children will call for these stories over and over 
again.” — Chicago Evening Post. 

THE SANDMAN: His Ship Stories. 

“ Little ones will understand and delight in the stories 
and their parents will read between the lines and recog¬ 
nize the poetic and artistic work of the author.” — 
Indianapolis News. 

THE SANDMAN: His Sea Stories. 

“ Once upon a time there was a man who knew little 
children and the kind of stories they liked, so he wrote 
four books of Sandman’s stories, all about the farm or 
the sea, and the brig Industry, and this book is one of 
them.” — Canadian Congregationalist. 

By Jexxy Wallis 

THE SANDMAN: His Soxgs and Rhymes. 

“ Here is a fine collection of poems for mothers and 
friends to use at the twilight hour. They are not of the 
soporific kind especially. They are wholesome reading 
when most wide-awake and of such a soothing and deli¬ 
cious flavor that they are welcome when the lights are 
low.” — Christian Intelligence. 

A —15 



THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


THE SANDMAN SERIES 

(continued) 

By Harry W. Frees 

THE SANDMAN: His Animal Stories. 

“ They are written in a style that will appeal most 
strongly to children, and the promise of a Sandman 
story before retiring will be found an adequate relief to 
many a tired mother. The simplicity of the stories and 
the fascinating manner in which they are written make 
them an excellent night cap for the youngster who is 
easily excited into wakefulness.” — Pittsburgh Leader. 

THE SANDMAN: His Kittycat Stories. 

“ The Sandman is a wonderful fellow. First he told 
farm stories, then ship stories, then sea stories. And 
now he tells stories about the kittens and the fun they 
had in Kittycat Town. A strange thing about these 
kittens is the ability to talk, work and play like boys and 
girls, and that is why all of the little tots will like the 
Sandman’s book, which has thirty-two illustrations re¬ 
produced from photographs taken by the author.” — 
Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph. 

THE SANDMAN I His Bunny Stories. 

“ The whole book is filled with one tale after another 
and is narrated in such a pleasing manner as to reach 
the heart of every child.” — Common Sense, Chicago. 

By W. S. Phillips 
(El Comancho) 

THE SANDMAN: His Indian Stories. 

No Sandman is properly equipped without a fund of 
Jndian tales, for the lure of the feathered head-dress, 
the tomahawk and the wampum belt is irresistible to 
the small boy. The Indian tales for this Celebrated 
Series of Children’s Bedtime Stories have been written 
by a man who has Indian blood, who spent years of his 
life among the Redmen in one of the tribes of which 
he is an honored member and who is an expert inter¬ 
preter of the Indian viewpoint and a practised authority 
on all Indiana as well as a master teller of tales. 

A—16 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES 

(trade mark) 

Each volume illustrated with six or more full page plates in 
tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover, 
per volume, 60 cents 

LIST OF TITLES 

By Col. F. A. Postnikov, Isaac Taylor 
Headland, LL. D., Edward C. 

Butler, etc. 


Our Little African Cousin 
Our Little Alaskan Cousin 
Our Little Arabian Cousin 
Our Little Argentine Cousin 
Our Little Armenian Cousin 
Our Little Australian Cousin 
Our Little Austrian Cousin 
Our Little Belgian Cousin 
Our Little Bohemian Cousin 
Our Little Boer Cousin 
Our Little Brazilian Cousin 
Our Little Bulgarian Cousin 
Our Little Canadian Cousin 
of the Maritime Provinces 
Our Little Chinese Cousin 
Our Little Cossack Cousin 
Our Little Cuban Cousin 
Our Little Danish Cousin 
Our Little Dutch Cousin 
Our Little Egyptian Cousin 
Our Little English Cousin 
Our Little Eskimo Cousin 
Our Little Finnish Cousin 
Our Little French Cousin 
Our Little German Cousin 
Our Little Grecian Cousin 
Our Little Hawaiian Cousin 
A—17 


Our Little Hindu Cousin 
Our Little Hungarian Cousin 
Our Little Indian Cousin 
Our Little Irish Cousin 
Our Little Italian Cousin 
Our Little Japanese Cousin 
Our Little Jewish Cousin 
Our Little Korean Cousin 
Our Little Malayan (Brown) 
Cousin 

Our Little Mexican Cousin 
Our Little Norwegian Cousin 
Our Little Panama Cousin 
Our Little Persian Cousin 
Our Little Philippine Cousin 
Our Little Polish Cousin 
Our Little Porto Rican Cousin 
Our Little Portuguese Cousin 
Our Little Roumanian Cousin 
Our Little Russian Cousin 
Our Little Scotch Cousin 
Our Little Servian Cousin 
Our Little Siamese Cousin 
Our Little Spanish Cousin 
Our Little Swedish Cousin 
Our Little Swiss Cousin 
Our Little Turkish Cousin 



THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


THE LITTLE COUSINS OF LONG 

AGO SERIES 

The volumes in this series describe the boys and girls 
of ancient times. 

Each small 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated 60c. 

OUR LITTLE ATHENIAN COUSIN OF 
LONG AGO 

By Julia D arrow Cowles. 

OUR LITTLE CARTHAGINIAN COUSIN 
OF LONG AGO 

By Clara V. Winlow. 

OUR LITTLE FRANKISH COUSIN OF LONG 
AGO 

By Evaleen Stein. 

OUR LITTLE MACEDONIAN COUSIN OF 
LONG AGO 

By Julia Darrow Cowles. 

OUR LITTLE NORMAN COUSIN OF LONG 
AGO 

By Evaleen Stein. 

OUR LITTLE ROMAN COUSIN OF LONG 
AGO 

By Julia Darrow Cowles. 

OUR LITTLE SAXON COUSIN OF LONG 
AGO 

By Julia Darrow Cowles. 

OUR LITTLE SPARTAN COUSIN OF LONG 
AGO 

By Julia Darrow Cowles. 

OUR LITTLE VIKING COUSIN OF LONG 
AGO 

By Charles H. L. Johnston. 

IN PREPARATION 

OUR LITTLE CELTIC COUSIN OF LONG AGO 
A—18 




































































